There is a bias against having biases. Our everyday use of the word bias is derogatory, suggesting a belief that is unfounded and unfair; a bias is a prejudice. In biomedical science, by the 1970s, bias had largely become a statistical, clinical trial term with a negative connotation associated with misclassification, error, a flaw in an experimental design or data collection, and lack of validity. The moral association of the term “bias” is still apparent as a disparagement, something to be avoided in our experiments. Pushing against this dominant conception of the notion, we suggest that bias, seen as a part of science that is unavoidable, may be getting a bad rap. Perhaps a more neutral understanding of what bias is could offer some insight into the process of science and a preferable approach to our thinking about scientific work.
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