Perspectives – Minimizing Observer Bias in Behavioral Studies: A Review and Recommendations
Since the 1970s, texts on research methods in animal behavior advocate that researchers minimize potential observer bias in their studies. One way to minimize possible bias is to record or score behavioral data blind to treatment, group, or individual. Another way to reduce bias is for researchers to analyze subsets or entire sets of data […]
Opinion of applied ethologists on expectation bias, blinding observers and other debiasing techniques
There is increasing evidence that the field of applied ethology is prone to expectation biases invalidating research outcomes. Nevertheless, outcome assessors are rarely blinded. We surveyed delegates of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) 2014 congress shortly before (n = 39 respondents) and after (n = 51 respondents) a combined congress plenary and workshop […]