Evaluating Bias in Research - Essay Example

Evaluating Bias in Research Research of any manner must have particular criteria to guide its conduction. Academic and scientific researches have standard procedures or steps to observe when planning to, and conducting. Just like in standard researches, the first step in conducting students’ research is to identify and develop topic. Topic can be in the form of a question that the researcher intends to investigate. It is the topic that guides and shapes the entire flow of a research. Students can use key words in the research questions to search for the sources of information.

Where a topic has many sources and several articles discussing nit, then it can only be appropriate to reduce the sources and narrow down the research. In case where the topic has little information, then it is appropriate that a student introduce to another element. For instance, if the research topic is “effects of beer on college students”, then one can broaden search to “effects of alcohol on students.”One element of research that can compromise quality, validity, and reliability of information is bias.

According to Whoriskey (2012), biasness occurs when a researcher tends to favor and focus more on predefined ideologies or personal hypothesis about a given research topic. Through bias, the researcher fails to consider views of others or side ideologies. This aspect can lead to an overtly erroneous research with little validity. To avoid biases, it is usually appropriate to subject research findings to review by independent persons who surpass influence of any form from the originators of a research.

One of the biases in the drug industry is that most of the actors only focus on the positive elements about their products. Most players pay little attention, and mostly hide the negative effects of drugs from the public. Drug industry also biases in their research by funding, and always intending to control research activities on their drugs to ensure that only favorable results reach the public domain. Drug industry makes the assumption that the likely side effects they hide about drugs will not manifest.

Drug makers also assume that due to the need of secrecy in research, it is never important to share information about ingredients with reviewers. Another assumption is that reviewers will not discover any side effects of particular drugs if uninformed about the known contents (Whoriskey, 2012). Actors in the drug industry also assume that their competitors in the sector use weird and banned technologies as well as ingredients in manufacturing. Consumers also involve in biases towards the drug industry in their influences over research.

One of the biases of consumers is that drug industry always intends to manipulate outcomes of the researches in favor of business. Some actors in the industry adhere to ethical standards, and by participating in the research do not mean manipulation of outcomes. Consumers assume that drug industry want to control researches to cover up doubts and side effects associated with their products to boom business. In cases that reputable journals like the NIH and the NEJM publish information approving a drug, consumers tend to trust and believe the affected drugs (Whoriskey, 2012).

Resultantly, consumers maintain blind eye over their problems that hinder them from realizing or discovering the side effects of the drugs over their health.ReferenceWhoriskey, P. (2012). As drug industry’s influence over research grows, so does the potential for bias. Retrieved April 24, 2015 from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-drug-industrys-influence-over-research-grows-so-does-the-potential-for-bias/2012/11/24/bb64d596-1264-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html