BIAS
Bias is the result of the cultures and operating procedures that stakeholders bring with them that affect the
design, management and evaluation of projects, as well as data collection for assessments and monitoring.
TYPES OF BIAS
Spatial bias
Project staff and evaluators may not stray too far from urban centres, tarmac
roads and roadside projects and therefore may not see a complete representation
of the affected population. Usually the more affluent or powerful will settle close to
roads.
Project bias
On the whole, agencies plan for and evaluate projects. Usually there is little
interest in what happens indirectly to the wider population (or to the host
population, in case of refugee programmes) as a result of the project.
Dry-season bias
Evaluators make few visits during the rainy season, so they rarely get to
appreciate the impacts of flooding or other disagreeable weather.
Diplomatic bias
A combination of politeness, fear, embarrassment and language problems
frequently deter visitors from speaking to the poorest or those who are not directly
involved with projects. Often it is considered discourteous to insist on meeting
with people not in the itinerary prepared by your hosts.
Professional bias
Professional visitors are frequently drawn to community leaders and the wealthier,
better-educated members of the affected population since they are the ones best
able to discuss the topics of interest to the outside evaluator. Their prejudices and
view can leak into the study and not be spotted.
Security bias
In situations where security is an issue (e.g. crisis and unstable contexts)
procedures limiting access to some areas or people will bias the results. This
often means that those most affected by a crisis are the least considered.
In some other cases, the coverage of areas affected by security problems may
not be sufficient and resulting generalisations could badly reflect the reality.
"Knowledge" bias
We always find what we are looking for — the unknown and the unexpected are
more difficult to discover. The tendency of building on existing studies,
experiences, “common sense”, shared views and consensus, mainstream
theories, etc. means that some groups or issues simply remain “invisible” and are
not identified. Consider for example how nomadic populations or marginalised
groups can simply not be targeted by a study. Also, “invisible” problems may
never be revealed, meaning that investigations, research and programmes might
continue focusing on more evident but less relevant issues. (Consider the effect of
cultural issues, power relations and mechanisms unknown to a foreigner and the
difficulty of discovering them in the absence of great familiarity with a culture.)
Open-mindedness, intellectual curiosity, and attention to the context are
fundamental to overcome this type of bias.
Because of these biases, many outside experts and evaluators may miss the true dimensions of the
problems or not perceive how adequately programs are meeting objectives. In fact, the objectives may never
have been adequately formulated because of the same biases.
Adapted from: Chambers, 1983, p 13-22; ALNAP training modules.
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