8 Bias Parody

Prerequisite Knowledge
  • Understanding of qualitative and quantitative research design and methods
Learner Setting Classroom
Strategy Type Performance
Time Faculty prep: 20 minutes

Delivery with students: 45 minutes

Evaluation: 30 minutes
Learning Objectives
  • To demonstrate understanding of the role of biases in study designs.
  • To apply biases to different non-research situations
  • To engage the creative mind in learning the effects of biases on study results.
Materials/Resources Handout

Small slips of paper upon which each has a specific bias written
Strategy Overview Students will identify threats to validity. Using three identified threats they will create a parody of any song. The song must contain examples of how the threat affects validity. This assignment is a fun way for students to understand various threats. By putting validity threats to music, both logical and creative areas of the brain are stimulated, increasing learning.
Steps
  1. Before class create handout of biases (see below). Create slips of paper with a type of bias printed on each one.
  2. Have a class discussion of threats to validity.
  3. Distribute list of potential biases.
  4. Form groups of three to four students.
  5. Allow students to discuss understanding of biases in small group.
  6. Give each student a slip of paper.
  7. Instruct students to create a parody, poem or fairytale using the biases distributed on the slips of paper.
  8. The performance should use the biases in a context outside of research. The audience should be able to identify the bias with making reference to its name.
  9. Groups will perform their story for the class. The class will identify the biases and discuss how they could impact a study.
Evaluation Class presentation

Bias Parody: Threats to Validity Handout

experimenter effect (internal validity threat)

researcher could treat participants differently if they knew what group the participants were in therefor affecting the participants behavior

observer bias (internal validity threat)

when the researcher knows the hypothesis and variables of the study and has a biased view because they know what they are looking for

researcher attribute (internal validity threat)

how the characteristics of the researcher can affect the participants (example how they look, gender)

hawthorne effect (internal validity threat)

participants responses change because they know they are being observed, similar to the social desirability effect

testing effect (internal validity threat)

taking a pretest before the experiment can influence the participants views which confounds the experimental results internal validity that the conclusions drawn from experimental results accurately reflect the experiment

maturation (internal validity threat)

people and their surroundings are continually changing, and such changes can effect the experiment

experimental mortality (internal validity threat)

people drop out of experiment before it is complete (like if there was a smoking psa experiment, the kids who already smoke might just leave)

selection bias (internal validity threat)

comparisons between two groups of participants means nothing unless these groups are essentially the same at the beginning of the study (random sampling helps us ensure they will be)

intersubject bias (internal validity threat)

when participants from the control group and the experimental group have accesses to one another and can share information

compensatory rivalry

those in the control group may try to compensate for lack of stimulus and work harder that normal

demoralization

feelings of being denied in the control group may result in them just giving up

history

results of an experiment could really be the result of current events that take placed while the experiment is being conducted (a study could be taking another class that helped them too)

instrumentation

using different measurements for the same dependent variable, no consistent between pre test and post test

treatment confound

the dependent variable is influenced by another variable not part of the experiment which ends up influencing the treatment (having to pay 25 dollars to do something, only people who can pay are now part of experiment)

statistical regression

people that score either really high or really low on the pretest end up having scores close to the mean on the post test

compensation

participants in control group are deprived of something valuable, and so then maybe they would get something extra and nice

License

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Innovative Lesson Plans for Active Learning Copyright © 2018 by Susan M. Strouse PhD, RN; Genevieve B. Elrod PhD, RN, OCN; and Karyn Butler PhD, RN, FPMHNP-BC, CNM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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