Bias in Research

Bias in Research and Daily Life

Bias is an entity which does not only involve research but also forms part and parcel of our daily lives. In the context of our lives I can argue that we have a minimal chance to control or minimize the level of bias. The control is unlike in research works that often present with degrees of bias that can be controlled and even eliminated if appropriate caution is taken. I consider the position or the role of the man or the research participants to be the main actors in research bias (Schmidt & Hunter, 2014). Therefore, there is something which we can do to reduce bias. First, same participants should be considered while taking on research work. Doing this means that the participants should have the same characteristics and common traditions so that one group do not possess an advantage over the others. For example, a study on the utilization of health services in a City would not involve everybody on the same parameters. Non-inclusion of everybody is because there would be two study populations involved here- the high-class citizens living in the business units and the low-class citizens who reside in the City suburb (Saltelli et al., 2016). Doing this would be fair and without bias, if the two are exposed to the same conditions and treatments. However, in this case, bias is deemed difficult to eliminate because the lower class citizens have ’inherent’ lifestyle that makes them different to the others irrespective of the treatments.

Minimizing Bias in Research Work

Another way of minimizing bias in research work is the type of sampling method used. There are many methods of sampling the study participants, and this solely rests on the researcher’s choice. The most accurate method of sampling that greatly reduces bias is the random sampling technique. In randomization, the participants are chosen in such a way that each one of them has equal chances of participating in the process (Schmidt & Hunter, 2014). They are subjected to same treatments, and they are expected to yield the same intensity or amount of information. However, randomization is restricted by the fact that the participants should have the same features or lifestyles. They should be subjected to the process if the only proper examination has been done on them to ascertain that they all have the same requirements. In most cases, random sampling should be applied to the same gender if the study involves human beings since gender or rather sex is an entity that is permanent and automatically results in bias. Gender is the roles that are ascribed or dedicated to an individual and may vary from one cultural group to another.

The Role of Diversity in Research

The use of heterogeneous or different groups in research indeed leads to a quality result. Just from the meaning of research, it has to cover many populations to bring out diversity regarding the expected outcome (Laukkanen et al., 2016). Diversity is a natural phenomenon that human beings do not have control over and we must recognize its presence in the society. Diversity makes us be able to expand on what existing. The diversity exists either through our mind or regarding a particular society. The knowledge which I either acquire or was born with is different from that of other persons. We should exploit this diversity by involving the minds and cooperation of different participants in a piece of research so that a comprehensive result is realize. Additionally, I may argue that one may be biased to him or herself. For example, one may skip a bath for a day even if he or she is aware that it is not healthy to do so (Ajami et al., 2015). The aspect of bias comes in since there is the knowledge of cleanliness, but the person decides to do it thereby affecting his or her health which I consider to be the result in this case. Therefore, bias is something which is part and parcel of our life, and we should try to minimize it so that we live healthily.

References

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (2014). Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings. Sage publications.

Ajami, H., McCabe, M. F., & Evans, J. P. (2015). Impacts of model initialization on an integrated surface water–groundwater model. Hydrological Processes, 29(17), 3790-3801.

Saltelli, A., Ravetz, J., & Funtowicz, S. (2016). Who will solve the crisis in science. Science on the Verge; Ravetz, JR, Funtowicz, S., Benessia, A., Eds, 1-30.

Laukkanen, T., Kunutsor, S., Kauhanen, J., & Laukkanen, J. A. (2016). Sauna bathing is

inversely associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in middle-aged

Finnish men. Age and Ageing 46(2), 245-249.