Unbiased sources
A student may ask us:
How can I check for bias in books, articles or webpages that I plan to cite in my thesis or academic research paper?
We may explain:
The noun bias means prejudiced or unfair in one way or another. In our academic research we want to avoid partiality, partisanship, favoritism, and one-sidedness. To do so, look for scholarly peer-reviewed publications that are meant to communicate information, not opinions.
In English, there are other meanings for the word bias. In sports such as lawn bowling, bias means the slanting direction of the ball when it is rolled. Students at the Thammasat Department of Textile Science and Technology will be familiar with the term bias grain of a piece of woven fabric or the bias. This is a line at a slant from the main weave of a textile. Clothes made of fabric are said to be cut on the bias when the fabric’s threads are at a diagonal to the major seam lines. Bias-cut skirts and dresses, neckties, and other products move more freely than garments that are cut differently. Although bias may be natural in sports and textiles, we do not want to use slanted statements in our academic research.
The student may ask:
What about research published by educational institutions?
We may answer:
That depends upon the educational institution.
Some organizations work to promote a message or to sell a product. If a source looks like it is meant to endorse or market something, it may be biased.
The student may be concerned:
How can I know what kind of organization published the information?
Our reply might be:
Most organizations have a link to click on About Us or something like that. Others have something to click on about Our Mission or Our Vision. If they exist not just to inform the public but also to deliver a message that they have determined in advance, it may be biased information.
An objective research institution should be willing to deliver information, even if does not agree with their ideas before they began the research. They should also present different arguments, even if they do not agree with them.
The student may wonder:
Are there any other signs of a biased website?
Our reply might be:
If the website devotes space to insulting or criticizing those people it disagrees with, that is usually a sign of bias. A scholarly, bias-free argument should be focused on the subject at hand and not at the people who may be arguing some other viewpoint.
The student may ask:
Why are scholarly publications mainly free of bias?
We may answer:
One reason is that the peer-review process means an article has been through different hands before it is published. Readers who evaluate and criticize a scholarly article may have different points of view than the person who wrote the article. To get it published, the author must take into account opposing views. So it is less likely to find in a peer-reviewed article only one opinion presented in a prejudiced way.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)