Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control

Abstract The properties of the human mind affect the quality of scientific knowledge through the insertion of unconscious biases during the research process. These biases frequently cause overestimation of the effects under study, thereby violating the reproducibility of the research and potentially...

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Autores principales:	Elena L. Zvereva, Mikhail V. Kozlov
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9e866420fdba4ca4a5175516c2aaeafe
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9e866420fdba4ca4a5175516c2aaeafe2021-12-02T11:46:07ZBiases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control10.1038/s41598-020-80677-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/9e866420fdba4ca4a5175516c2aaeafe2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80677-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The properties of the human mind affect the quality of scientific knowledge through the insertion of unconscious biases during the research process. These biases frequently cause overestimation of the effects under study, thereby violating the reproducibility of the research and potentially leading to incorrect conclusions in subsequent research syntheses. We explored the level of knowledge about biases and attitudes to this problem by analysing 308 responses of ecology scientists to a specifically developed survey. We show that knowledge about biases and attitude towards biases depend on the scientist’s career stage, gender and affiliation country. Early career scientists are more concerned about biases, know more about measures to avoid biases, and twice more frequently have learned about biases from their university courses when compared with senior scientists. The respondents believe that their own studies are less prone to biases than are studies by other scientists, which hampers the control of biases in one’s own research. We conclude that education about biases is necessary, but not yet sufficient, to avoid biases because the unconscious origin of biases necessitates external intervention to combat them. Obligatory reporting of measures taken against biases in all relevant manuscripts will likely enhance the reproducibility of scientific results.Elena L. ZverevaMikhail V. KozlovNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Elena L. Zvereva Mikhail V. Kozlov Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control
description	Abstract The properties of the human mind affect the quality of scientific knowledge through the insertion of unconscious biases during the research process. These biases frequently cause overestimation of the effects under study, thereby violating the reproducibility of the research and potentially leading to incorrect conclusions in subsequent research syntheses. We explored the level of knowledge about biases and attitudes to this problem by analysing 308 responses of ecology scientists to a specifically developed survey. We show that knowledge about biases and attitude towards biases depend on the scientist’s career stage, gender and affiliation country. Early career scientists are more concerned about biases, know more about measures to avoid biases, and twice more frequently have learned about biases from their university courses when compared with senior scientists. The respondents believe that their own studies are less prone to biases than are studies by other scientists, which hampers the control of biases in one’s own research. We conclude that education about biases is necessary, but not yet sufficient, to avoid biases because the unconscious origin of biases necessitates external intervention to combat them. Obligatory reporting of measures taken against biases in all relevant manuscripts will likely enhance the reproducibility of scientific results.
format	article
author	Elena L. Zvereva Mikhail V. Kozlov
author_facet	Elena L. Zvereva Mikhail V. Kozlov
author_sort	Elena L. Zvereva
title	Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control
title_short	Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control
title_full	Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control
title_fullStr	Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control
title_full_unstemmed	Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control
title_sort	biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/9e866420fdba4ca4a5175516c2aaeafe
work_keys_str_mv	AT elenalzvereva biasesinecologicalresearchattitudesofscientistsandwaysofcontrol AT mikhailvkozlov biasesinecologicalresearchattitudesofscientistsandwaysofcontrol
_version_	1718395243482578944

Biases in ecological research: attitudes of scientists and ways of control

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