I thought this was worth a post. This bias is above and beyond what occurs
on purpose for material gain or by accident due to poor experiment design.
Some pervasive ideas in beekeeping likely suffer  from this sort of bias. I
wonder how much stuff gets dumped on crops with questionable success.

 

Dick Marron

 

Begin quote: "Evidence of systematic positive bias was turning up in
research ranging from basic to clinical, and on subjects ranging from
genetic disease markers to testing of traditional Chinese medical practices.

How can we explain such pervasive bias? Like a magnetic field that pulls
iron filings into alignment, a powerful cultural belief is aligning multiple
sources of scientific bias in the same direction. The belief is that
progress in science means the continual production of positive findings. All
involved benefit from positive results, and from the appearance of progress.
Scientists are rewarded both intellectually and professionally, science
administrators are empowered and the public desire for a better world is
answered. The lack of incentives to report negative results, replicate
experiments or recognize inconsistencies, ambiguities and uncertainties is
widely appreciated - but the necessary cultural change is incredibly
difficult to achieve."

http://www.nature.com/news/beware-the-creeping-cracks-of-bias-1.10600?WT.ec_
id=NEWS-20120515

 

 


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