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Remember when one study claimed that tea is good for you, while two others found that tea is bad? Then, another study said none of that matters because coffee is better, and conveniently, that study was funded by Nescafé. Feel lost? Welcome to bias.

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According to the Cambridge Dictionary, bias is defined as:

noun: the action of supporting or opposing a particular person or thing in an unfair way, because of allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment.

Simply put, when you are biased, you have an inclination that makes you judge without questioning. This prejudice can favor or oppose an entity, be it a thing, person, idea, or anything else, and is often done unfairly.

While you now understand the basic idea of bias, you need to also understand its technical definition. In this context, bias refers to systematic errors in the design, conduct, analysis, or interpretation of research that can lead to radically incorrect and misleading conclusions.

Bias is what stands in opposition to objectivity. It’s not based on facts or justified reasoning but rather on a mix of factors such as age, gender, race, culture, personal experience, and more. To understand how bias arises in everyday life, it often stems from cultural and societal norms. In research, however, as described in the paper "Identifying and Avoiding Bias in Research," bias occurs when "systematic error [is] introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or encouraging one outcome or answer over others." Essentially, this happens when there’s a lack of absolute objectivity in obtaining findings and acting upon them without altering anything to favor a particular outcome.

The same paper also points out that “Bias is not a dichotomous variable.” This means bias isn’t as simple as being either present or absent; it’s not a yes-or-no situation. Instead, bias exists on a continuum, meaning it has varying degrees or levels. This is important to understand so that when evaluating resources, you’re not just asking whether a study is entirely biased or unbiased. Instead, you should assess how severe the bias is and how much it affects the conclusions. Essentially, you should measure the extent to which bias is present.

Taken from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, you should also be aware of the following terms (definitions sourced from the Cambridge Dictionary):

• Agenda, n. the underlying intentions or motives of a particular person or group
• Hyperbole, n. exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally
• Objective, adj. (of a person or their judgment) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts
• Parody, n. an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect
• Satire, n. The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's folly and vice
• Subjective, adj. based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions

You now may understand the dangers of bias in research. On an academic integrity note, bias is nothing short of an existential crisis. It can be seen as the single largest factor corrupting the scientific method, given the devastating impact of introducing systematic errors at every stage. One aspect is reputation and credibility: both yours and your institution’s. For institutions, this may often lead to a loss of public trust, with people questioning their standards. This trust erosion would thus damage them, e.g., through reduced funding opportunities and weakened collaborative relationships.

What was mentioned above describes how bias impacts individuals on a personal level, which, although significant, pales in comparison to its broader consequences: how bias affects research, society, and people: you and me.

Beyond issues of integrity, the consequences of bias are devastating; it is genuinely frightening. If bias were to be described with another word, it could be called a "killer," both of research and of human lives (as will be further elaborated). Historically, bias has led to catastrophic outcomes, including the loss of lives, systemic discrimination, and widespread societal harm.

As mentioned, bias kills people. This is not a metaphor.

You may not be aware of the popular thalidomide tragedy, a disaster that occurred in the 1950s and early 1960s. Thalidomide was prescribed to pregnant women to alleviate morning sickness. However, this resulted in thousands of infants being born with severe birth defects. Over 10,000 babies were affected, having conditions such as malformations of the limbs, eyes, ears, face, genitals, and cardiovascular system. Further, many babies died within their first year of life, and there were reports of increased miscarriage rates. Beyond this, survivors endured long-term complications; this included internal organ dysfunction and nerve damage.