Bias

How it is used

Many types have names: selection bias, response bias, nonresponse bias, recall bias. Researchers introduce, reduce, avoid or correct for bias. An estimator is 'unbiased' if it is right on average across repeated samples.

Example sentences

1. Recruiting volunteers through a fitness app introduced selection bias.

2. Self-reported weight tends to be biased downwards.

Common collocations

• selection bias
• introduce bias
• reduce bias
• unbiased estimate
• risk of bias

Related terms

• sampling errorThe natural difference between a value calculated from a sample and the true population value, which arises simply because only part of the population was studied.
• nonresponse biasBias that arises when the people who do not take part in a survey differ in important ways from those who do, so the results misrepresent the population.
• random sampleA sample chosen so that every member of the population has a known, usually equal, chance of being selected, which helps avoid systematic bias.
• confounding variableA third variable that is related to both the independent and the dependent variable and can create a false or distorted impression of the relationship between them.
• convenience sampleA sample made up of people who are easy to reach, such as students in the researcher's own class or visitors to a website, rather than people chosen at random.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• bias · Software Engineering
• bias · Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
• bias · Public Health & Epidemiology
• bias · History
• bias · Journalism & Media

More terms: Sampling

• population
• sample
• sample size
• stratified sampling
• sampling frame