1.4 biased studies Flashcards
biased studies
studies conducted w methods that tend to overestimate or underestimate the true value
voluntary response survey
where people are invited to log onto a website/text/tweet/call to say their opinion
voluntary response bias (highly biased)
most of the time, the people’s opinions do not reflect the population as a whole because only people with strong opinions would participate
self-interest bias
happens when people have an interest in the outcome of an experiment so they have an incentive to use biased methods. when an ad shows that their product is superior and doesnt show how their product is also inferior
social acceptability bias
when people are reluctant to admit to behavior that can reflect negatively on them which affects many surveys (i.e. when they say yes instead of no when people ask if they voted bc its socially acceptable to say yes)
leading question bias
when questions are worded to elicit a particular response
non-response bias
the people who refuse to participate in a study. because these non-responders tend to have different opinions than the ones who participate, the surveys with many non-responders are often biased
sampling bias
when some people of the population are more likely to be included than others (ex when someone asks people how the banana from the same bunch taste and this excluded people who didnt eat the banana)
big sample size doesn’t make up for bias
a sample is only useful if is drawn by a method that likely represents the population well. bias can be present even in a big sample, so the size doesn’t help.
