Types of Biases + Demand Characteristics Flashcards
Expectancy Effect
The participant tries to guess the hypothesis and acts in a way to support it. Tries to ‘help’ the researcher
Screw you effect
The participant tries to discern the hypothesis and purposely acts to prove it wrong
Social Desirability
Participants act in the way they think is expected or they should act to avoid embarrassment or judgment
Researcher Bias
When an experimenter sees what they’re looking for. Their expectations either consciously or unconsciously affects the results of a study
Participant Variability
Where participants share a common set of traits that can bias the findings
Artificiality
When the situation created is so unrealistic that the results are doubtful
Acquiescence Bias
A tendency to give positive answers regardless of the question
(Questions should be neutral & open ended to avoid this)
Sensitive Bias
Tendency to answer regular questions honestly but distort answers on sensitive matters
(Rapport should be established to avoid this)
Dominant Respondent Bias
Occurs in group interview settings, when one participant’s answers or behaviors affect the others
(Dominant responses should be kept in check)
Confirmation Bias
When the researcher has prior beliefs and uses research as a means to confirm this. Can be shown question wording, interpretation of results etc
Leading Question Bias
Occurs when the wording of a question leads to participants answering in a certain way.
Questions should be kept neutral & open-ended
Question Order Bias
When one question could influence the participant’s response to the next one
General questions should be asked before specific ones
Sampling Bias
Occurs when the sample is not adequate for the type of research. This means that the results wouldn’t be generalizable.
Reporting Bias
Occurs when some findings aren’t equally represented in the report, when the researcher chooses to share only some parts of the study.
