Principles established through induction are confined to a limited observation. Induction starts with a narrow scope and, when tested, expands to broad generalizations and theories. By its nature, the resulting theory from inductive reasoning can extend beyond the original premise.

Principles established through deduction suggest extensive research and experimentation. It begins at the macro level, working down to a specific hypothesis. The end result of a successful deduction confirms the original observation.

If I developed a theory of quality practices in web design, based solely on my experiences, I would use induction. Although I have had extensive contact with web developers from a variety of backgrounds in the California Bay Area, my initial scope is comparatively narrow. My research would start with web application designers, primarily in San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. It would also be limited in time, as I only started working in Internet design a few years before the World Wide Web was just getting introduced to the general public. (The Internet had already been in existence for three decades.) As I broaden my scope over time to markets in New York, Minnesota, and Texas, I could augment my theory with experiences in those areas. By the time I retired from the industry, in 2050's Singapore, I would have gathered enough experiences over several decades to prove a fairly sound theory. For a theory to be sound, it would have to hold up to multiple tests, using different scenarios and input, over an extended period of time.

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