The benchmark the maker ran
A company says its tool is three times faster than the rest. It ran the test itself, on its own best machine, with jobs it picked.
Maybe it is true. But the company wants to sell it. That leaning has a name, and you need to spot it.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Bias | an unfair lean towards one side or one idea |
| Conscious bias | a lean you know you have |
| Unconscious bias | a lean you do not know you have |
| Author bias | the writer or owner gives only their own view, with no balance; also called proprietary bias |
| Confirmation bias | looking for facts that match what you already believe |
| Selection bias | choosing sources or people by a rule that leaves some out |
| Cultural bias | assuming that everyone shares the habits and norms of your own society |
| Benchmark | a test that compares things on the same job |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can name four kinds of bias and give a data-work example of each.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
The four kinds of bias
| Kind | In plain words | A data-work example |
|---|---|---|
| Author or proprietary bias | The writer or owner gives only their own view | A tool maker publishes its own speed test and says it wins |
| Confirmation bias | You look for facts that match your idea | You believe sales fell, so you read only the charts that show a fall |
| Selection bias | You pick sources or people by a rule that leaves some out | A survey about a shop sent only to people who use its app |
| Cultural bias | You assume everyone shares your society's norms | A form asks for a "first name and a surname", but some people use one name |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Conscious and unconscious
A seller who praises their own product may know they do it. That is conscious bias. An analyst who always trusts one tool because it never failed once may not know it. That is unconscious bias.
Any of the four kinds can be either. The fix is the same: look for it on purpose.
Check
Have a go
Check
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.