The ladder of inference

Figure 5: The ladder of inference

Figure 5 text version

Robinson and Lai (2006) suggest that the “ladder of inference” can help people to recognise the claims they make that they believe to be true and expect others to accept. (See also page 140.) Working up from the bottom, the ladder of inference proceeds as follows:

• Pool of available information: This is all the information relevant to the situation. The further people climb up the ladder, the more they are making an inference on the basis of this information and the greater the potential for disagreement.
• Select: People notice and select information from the pool. Different people will select different information.
• Describe: People name or describe what is happening.
• Interpret and evaluate: People interpret and evaluate what they have noticed and described in ways that reflect their prior assumptions.
• Theorise: People weave together their interpretations and experiences into a coherent theory of action that may or may not be true.
• Conclude: On the basis of their theories, people draw conclusions about the situation and what to do.

These conclusions inform people’s actions; they can also reinforce people’s assumptions and values, which (as indicated by the downward arrows) have already shaped the way those conclusions have been reached through the process of selection and interpretation of evidence.

Participants in a situation can test the validity of their understanding of the situation by comparing their different responses on each rung of the ladder. Robinson and Lai (2006, pages 48–49) provide a set of guidelines for getting on the same ladder and climbing it together:

1. As soon as you recognise you are on a different ladder from your colleague, do not climb any more rungs.
2. Slow down and stop advocating your own position.
3. Use your inquiry skills to identify the lowest point on your ladder at which the other person sees the situation differently.
4. Inquire into the disagreement until the other person confirms that you have correctly understood their point of view.
5. Check that the other person correctly understands your point of view.
6. If the difference remains, work out a way of checking out your differing claims that is acceptable to each of you. When you have checked out and revised your claims, climb the next rung of the ladder together.
7. Continue the process and see what you now conclude.

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