Biases in Psychological Research

Biases

In

Psychological Researchers 

One of the challenges, while doing research is to remain objective and free from biases. Most of your ideas and beliefs are probably linked with certain bias because they are influenced by your opinions or values. A variety of biases have been found to distort people's impressions of collected data.

¤ External Influences : External influences such as one's culture or the media can influence people to accept a particular world view.

¤ Personal Bias : Personal bias distorts estimating or evaluating processes as a result of personal beliefs, attributes, or past experiences.

¤ Observer Bias : Observer bias operates when one's biases act as "filters" through which some events are noticed or seen as meaningful while others are not. It must be kept in mind that researchers themselves were raised in certain cultures and societies. They also might have been exposed to certain gender role expectations. These background factors can all affect the way that researchers observe and interpret events in their lives.

¤ Expectancy Bias : Expectancy bias can affect observations of behaviour by triggering reactions to the events being observed. Researchers sometimes expect to find specific outcomes, and being only human, they may see what they expect to see rather than remain objective. Unfortunately, if one is not alert to the possibility of expectancy bias, it may seem as though the observed events are being "discovered" instead of created by the observer's expectations.

¤ Placebo Biases : Finally, placebo biases operate when people strongly want to believe a treatment is successful. Believing in the treatment may make an ineffective treatment appear effective. For example, many people may claim to feel better after taking a placebo such as a sugar pill. In those cases where the outcome involves a subjective judgement about result, that is, how well a person feels well or whether the pain has been reduced or relieved, the desire for a drug or therapeutic method to work may be enough to achieve the desired result.

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