Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Observer bias is especially probable when the investigator or researcher has vested interests in the outcome of the research or has strong preconceptions. Coupled with ambiguous underlying data and a subjective scoring method, these three factors contribute heavily to the incidence of observer bias.
Social science research is particularly prone to observer bias, so it is important in these fields to properly blind the researchers. In some cases, while blind experiments would be useful, they are impractical or unethical. Blinded data analysis can reduce bias, but is rarely used in social science research. [39]
Detection bias occurs when a phenomenon is more likely to be observed for a particular set of study subjects. For instance, the syndemic involving obesity and diabetes may mean doctors are more likely to look for diabetes in obese patients than in thinner patients, leading to an inflation in diabetes among obese patients because of skewed detection efforts.
The observer-expectancy effect [a] is a form of reactivity in which a researcher's cognitive bias causes them to subconsciously influence the participants of an experiment. Confirmation bias can lead to the experimenter interpreting results incorrectly because of the tendency to look for information that conforms to their hypothesis, and ...
Unobtrusive research (or unobtrusive measures) is a method of data collection used primarily in the social sciences. The term unobtrusive measures was first coined by Webb, Campbell, Schwartz, & Sechrest in a 1966 book titled Unobtrusive Measures: Nonreactive Research in the Social Sciences . [ 1 ]
Randomization is a statistical process in which a random mechanism is employed to select a sample from a population or assign subjects to different groups. [1] [2] [3] The process is crucial in ensuring the random allocation of experimental units or treatment protocols, thereby minimizing selection bias and enhancing the statistical validity. [4]
In statistics, sampling bias is a bias in which a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population have a lower or higher sampling probability than others. It results in a biased sample [ 1 ] of a population (or non-human factors) in which all individuals, or instances, were not equally likely to have been selected ...
In science, objectivity refers to attempts to do higher quality research by eliminating personal biases (or prejudices), irrational emotions and false beliefs, while focusing mainly on proven facts and evidence. [1] It is often linked to observation as part of the scientific method. It is thus related to the aim of testability and reproducibility.