Bias or should I be more precise..........

Bias exists everywhere. As an academician and a researcher  I would say "BIAS" plays an important role while conducting any type of research.

The following is the meaning of Bias according  to Dictionary of Epidemiology, 3rd Edition
"A bias is a systematic, non-random deviation of results and inferences from the truth, or process leading to such deviation. Any trend in collection, analysis, interpretation, publication or review of data that can lead to conclusions which are systematically different from truth"

While I read the above definition slowly, I started realizing that how many times we actually face such a bias in our real life situations. A meaning which was defined and designed to be applied for research is actually based on real life situations. 

According to "YOUR" dictionary, bias has the following meaning (which I guess is more easier to understand precisely & represents what one actually describes about bias occurring in real life) - "Bias is a tendency to favor one person, group, thing or point of view over another, often in an unfair way".

There are many types of biases - which the readers can read in short but I will would like to explain certain types of biases in details.

Examples of biases as follows:
1.Bias in treatment - means a person is treated (not the medical treatment but how we would treat a person with regards to our behavior and interaction with the opposite person) in a biased manner with regards - Age, Belief system, Gender, Marital status, Sexual orientation, Ethnicity, National origin etc.

Here for me what matters most is the belief system. The personal belief system of certain people are so strong that no matter whatever facts are presented, their belief will not change as for them the only logic and reasoning is circumstantial. Example: The pure feminists believe that all males are the same. In certain situations, bias towards a certain person is purely because a group of people believe that the person favored is any situation correct.

2. Bias in behavior.

3. Bias in politics and media - Some examples for this: 
a. In 1798, the Alien and Sedition acts were passed, making it illegal for newspapers to publish anything malicious, false or scandalous against the government. That included opposing any law or presidential act publicly. 

b. During the civil rights movement, television and film media were accused of a bias that supported the mixing of the races. Some Southern stations refused to air shows with mixed casts, such as Star Trek and 1 Spy.

The above 2 examples are cited from the net - please google to confirm.

Some examples of  mainstream media bias are as follows:

a. Advertising bias: Selecting media stories based on what will please the advertisers.
b. Concision bias.
c. Corporate bias.
d. Mainstream bias.
e. Sensationalism: Choosing to report more extraordinary events than everyday ones. This can make these types of events seem more common than they really are. 

The examples a. and e. of mainstream media bias, according to me, are important to me.

There are thousands of stories and news which run on television on different news channels. One must have the ability to actually catch the crust of it. 

For example: News shows how there is a rise in a particular species of mosquitoes (fact) and people dying endlessly due to Dengue (myth or can say bias). People are not dying endlessly due to Dengue. There is a certain number (not shown) in the news but the situation is exaggerated. The few numbers have actually been blown up. The news has hardly shown the number of cases as to how many people have actually recovered from that disease (I am one of them) (there are more number of cases who recover from Dengue as compared to the number who have died). And some of the people who died had too many co-morbid conditions apart from Dengue.   

Another example is of a newspaper article which according to me was totally sponsored. The article revealed that a person with a BP reading of 120/80 mm Hg is a sure shot diagnosed case of Hypertension. Arre. Such news actually scare the wits out the lay public.  

One cannot totally believe what is shown. You need to have your own discretion. Bias itself has many confounding factors. It confuses and surprises.

On a more personal note and experience - I have realized, its actually no point clearing the myth of the person or persons who are tracked down by bias. In that attempt, we ourselves become the part of the history and of the situational and the statistical analysis that follow. I have realized that bias exists in our relationships too. Be it family or friend. And relationship bias is the most notorious of all.

So dear readers - be bias free.

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