macroinference

English

Noun

macroinference (plural macroinferences)

1. An inference that is based on multiple small bits of data, each of which contribute a supporting microinference.
   • 1983, Sociology Toward the Year 2000: The Sociological Galaxy, page 28:

     Thus the crucial criterion for selecting middle-level units for macroinferences is the scope of the consequences of behaviors in the microcontext.

   • 1991, D. Das, Korean Economic Dynamism, page 172:

     Assessing the optimality of external borrowing is a difficult proposition indeed, but this need not keep us from reaching macroinferences.

   • 2012, Paul Smolensky, “One the Proper Treatment of Connectionism”, in David J. Cole, James H. Fetzer, Terry L. Rankin, editors, Philosophy, Mind, and Cognitive Inquiry, page 197:

     Macroinference is not a process of firing a symbolic production but rather of qualitative state change in a dynamical system, such as a phase transition.

   • 2014, Karin Knorr Cetina, A.V. Cicourel, Advances in Social Theory and Methodology, page 66:

     The everyday settings alluded to above are of interest because they make it possible for organizations to achieve their own macro-inferences about their own day-to-day activities.