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All 18 Flashcards — Types of bias
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Question
What is bias (in psychology)?
Answer
A tendency to see or report things in a way that is not fully objective — a tilt away from the truth.
Question
What is objectivity?
Answer
Judging based on facts, not on personal feelings or expectations.
Question
What is sampling bias?
Answer
When the people studied don't represent the wider group you want to describe.
Question
What is researcher bias?
Answer
When a researcher's expectations shape how they run or interpret a study.
Question
What is participant bias?
Answer
When people change their behaviour because they know they are being studied.
Question
What is confirmation bias?
Answer
Noticing evidence that fits what you expect and ignoring evidence that doesn't.
Question
What is publication bias?
Answer
When mostly positive results get published, hiding the studies where nothing happened.
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Why does bias matter?
Answer
It threatens objectivity, so the findings become less trustworthy.
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What are demand characteristics?
Answer
Clues in a study that let participants guess the aim, so they behave to fit it.
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Where does bias come from?
Answer
Three places: the design of the study, the researcher, and the participants.
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What is social desirability bias?
Answer
Giving the answer that makes you look good rather than the true one. It is a kind of response bias.
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What is recall bias?
Answer
Misremembering the past without meaning to, so the answers are inaccurate.
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What is a leading question?
Answer
A question whose wording pushes people towards one answer.
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What is non-response bias?
Answer
When the people who do not take part differ from those who do, so the sample is tilted.
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Implicit bias or explicit bias?
Answer
Implicit: the person does not notice it. Explicit: the person is aware of it.
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What is interviewer bias?
Answer
Researcher bias in an interview: the interviewer's words or reactions steer the answers.
Question
What is the Hawthorne effect?
Answer
People perform better or try harder simply because they know they are in a study.
Question
What are participant expectations?
Answer
Another name for participant bias: what participants think the study wants changes how they act or answer.
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Bias
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