Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

"On-line" data of scientists thinking and reasoning in their laboratories were collected and analyzed, providing a rare glimpse into the day-to-day use of induction by scientists at work. Analyses reveal that scientists use different types of induction in specific orders and cycle through such types in ways that are dictated by their current goal and context. Further, the processes involved in major conceptual changes are identical to those involved in minor conceptual changes. Finally, first time analyses of women and men scientists reasoning in laboratories show that women and men scientists reason in a virtually identical manner.