Strickland Brent, Mercier Hugo
a Department of Psychology , Yale University , New Haven , CT , USA.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2014;67(3):570-80. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2013.821510. Epub 2013 Aug 14.
Experimenter bias occurs when scientists' hypotheses influence their results, even if involuntarily. Meta-analyses have suggested that in some domains, such as psychology, up to a third of the studies could be unreliable due to such biases. A series of experiments demonstrates that while people are aware of the possibility that scientists can be more biased when the conclusions of their experiments fit their initial hypotheses, they robustly fail to appreciate that they should also be more sceptical of such results. This is true even when participants read descriptions of studies that have been shown to be biased. Moreover, participants take other sources of bias-such as financial incentives-into account, showing that this bias neglect may be specific to theory-driven hypothesis testing. In combination with a common style of scientific reporting, bias neglect could lead the public to accept premature conclusions.
当科学家的假设影响其研究结果时，即使是无意识的，也会出现实验者偏差。荟萃分析表明，在某些领域，如心理学，由于这种偏差，多达三分之一的研究可能不可靠。一系列实验表明，虽然人们意识到当科学家的实验结论符合他们最初的假设时，他们可能会有更大的偏差，但他们却强烈地没有意识到他们也应该对这样的结果更加怀疑。即使参与者阅读了已被证明存在偏差的研究描述，情况也是如此。此外，参与者会考虑其他偏差来源，如经济激励，这表明这种对偏差的忽视可能是理论驱动的假设检验所特有的。与常见的科学报告风格相结合，对偏差的忽视可能会导致公众接受不成熟的结论。
