Measuring inductive reasoning in school contexts: a review of instruments and predictors

Inductive reasoning is a cognitive process of drawing general conclusions from individual facts; it is one of the core components of fluid intelligence. This paper aims to explore characteristics of assessment instruments and trends in measuring inductive reasoning through a systematic review based on the PRISMA guidelines. The article reviews 38 empirical studies in educational contexts from 1997 to 2020. We found that the types of inductive reasoning tasks appeared unchanged over 23 years, but they grew more diverse and gradually evolved from paper-based to technology-based administration, in which non-verbal analogy problems have formed the most common subtest in evaluating inductive reasoning. The review findings also showed that inductive reasoning is closely related to numerous variables, such as age, discipline performance, scientific reasoning and problem-solving skills, while gender differences may depend on particular cultures. Correspondingly, the proposed focus was discussed to further assess this ability.