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Notes PRESS THE RIGHT-ARROW BUTTON TO SPI 0807.Inq.5: Bias and Error ADVANCE THROUGH THE SLIDES! Sep 3, 2013 Bias and Error in Science Bias: this means you are prejudiced towards or against something and that you allow your views to affect the results of your experiment. Science is about obtaining accurate results so bias should NEVER be allowed to influence your experimental results! Bias Is Bad! Bias Bias Notes SPI 0807.Inq.5: Bias and Error Bias in Science Experiments Example: Imagine that you doing an experiment to determine which NFL football quarterback can throw a football the furthest. Your favorite football team is the Tennessee Titans, so you are disappointed with your data when you notice that the Titans' quarterback's throwing distance is not the furthest. Yet because this is your favorite quarterback, you change the data so that this quarterback appears to throw the furthest. This is bias, and it should NEVER be allowed in science experiments! Notes SPI 0807.Inq.5: Bias and Error Example: Bubba loves to eat french fries with lots of extra salt. He conducts an experiment to determine how much better french fries taste with lots of extra salt. Identify the bias or error in this situation ANSWER: Because Bubba likes extra salt on his fries, he wrongly assumes that everyone else will like extra salt too. He is biased toward salt, so his results will contain errors. Bias should NEVER be allowed in science experiments! Notes SPI 0807.Inq.5: Bias and Error Bias in Science Two students who love Justin Bieber’s music do an experiment to measure how long people have to hear one of Justin’s songs before they too fall in love with his music. Question: Which choice below most likely will occur? (Just write the correct letter) A) Bias B) Fraud and Waste C) Song and Dance Answer: These two students are biased towards Justin Beiber, so their results will probably be biased and wrong too Notes SPI 0807.Inq.5: Bias and Error Errors in Science Avoid Mistakes: One small error can result in all your experimental data being wrong So scientists work very hard to avoid making mistakes Peer Review: One key way scientists deal with this issue is by having other scientists review their work to check for mistakes This very common practice is called peer review