Guessing

Guessing may combine elements of deduction, induction, abduction, and the purely random selection of one choice from a set of given options.

Tschaepe defines guessing as "an initial, deliberate originary activity of imaginatively creating, selecting, or dismissing potential solutions to problems or answers to questions as a volitional response to those problems or questions when insufficient information is available to make merely a deduction and/or induction to the solution or answer".

[3] This reflects the observation made centuries before by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, that "when I turn one way rather than another, it is often because of a series of tiny impressions of which I am not aware".

[5] Tschaepe quotes the description given by William Whewell, who says that this process "goes on so rapidly that we cannot trace it in its successive steps".

[8] Philosopher David Stove described this process as follows: A paradigm case of guessing is, when captains toss a coin to start a cricket match, and one of them 'calls', say "heads".

Tschaepe notes: "This process of guessing is distinct from that of a coin toss or picking a number.

Another kind of guessing is conjecture, particularly as used in mathematics to refer to a conclusion or proposition which appears to be correct based on incomplete information, but for which no proof has been found.

[14][15] Tschaepe notes that "guessing has been indicated as an important part of scientific processes, especially with regard to hypothesis-generation".

[3] Regarding scientific hypothesis-generation, Tschaepe has stated that guessing is the initial, creative process involved in abductive reasoning wherein new ideas are first suggested.

here is a definite process to guessing in Polanyi's account, although he does tend towards Whewell and Hempel in the comparison he makes between discovering hypotheses and Gestalt perception (144).

The genre also includes many game shows such as Win, Lose or Draw, Password and $25,000 Pyramid.

Guessing games are "readily adaptable for classroom use", as such a game "creates just enough tension to remain exciting, challenging, and competitive" for children, so long as the teacher designs effective rules "to eliminate unruly or unsportsmanship behavior".

[25] The study noted that students who knew the score they had received on a test were happier when another person who did not know the score guessed a lower number; the lower guess gave the student the positive feeling of having exceeded expectations.