Hasty generalization

You don’t have enough samples to reach that conclusion!

The sample size is too small to support the conclusion. Sometimes it is difficult to make people understand that this is the case. Statistics are not very intuitive and we tend to believe statements when they are supported by specific examples, without considering their relevance.

Examples
An Australian stole my wallet, therefore all Australians are thieves. (Of course, we cannot judge all Australians based on a single example).
I asked six of my friends about their thoughts on new limitations and they all agreed they are a good idea. Therefore, these new limitations are very popular.

To refute it
You need to identify the sample size and the population size. Prove that the sample is too small. Note: a formal proof would require mathematical calculations. This topic is studied in probability theory. For now, your proof needs to rely on common sense.

Whenever the source is not referenced, both definitions and examples have been extracted from a translation of Jaime Wilson jwilson@bytecr.com based on Stephen’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies. Copyright 1995-1998 Stephen Downes. Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.

These texts have been modified by Miguel A. Lerma and now by us to adapt them -and those taken from Wikipedia- to our format.