Bias in Psychological Research Statistics

Article Reference

National Center of Addiction and Drug Abuse (NCASA). (August 23^rd, 2012). “School Drug

Use: Survey Finds 17 Percent of High School Students Drink, Smoke, Use Drugs during the School Day,” The Huffington Post. Retrieved on September 23, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/annual-survey-finds-17-pe_n_1824966.html

The Huffington Post article reports that 17% of American high school students abuse drugs during the school-going days. The report presents a back-to-school survey that the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse (NCASA) conducted in 2012. The study relied on telephone interviews to collect the data. The study used a sample size of 1003 students whose ages ranged between 12 and 17 years (NCASA, 2012).

I felt that the statistics in the survey present bias because the researcher only focused on the school going students, and avoided the students who school from their homes or residences. Such a bias is intentional. The researcher also allowed the respondents to practice self-selection in the study. The participants of the study volunteered to give information (NCASA, 2012). When participants volunteer to give information, it is an element of self-selection on the side of the participants. The researcher did not use any criteria to select the 1003 respondents. The figure is, therefore, the preferred number of the NCASA.

The National Center of Addiction and Drug Abuse (NCASA) is the author of the article. The fact that NCASA wanted to use the statistics to show the seriousness of drug abuse among the school-going Americans motivated the bias. The organization wanted to advance the idea that many American teenagers abuse drugs in schools and not at home. The researcher, therefore, chose to ignore the high school students to learn from home.

In the future, the researcher should develop a sampling frame that includes the high school students who learn from homes. The category may form the control group against the students who learn from school. Also, the researcher should avoid the self-selection method of sampling and develop a criterion for determining the sample population.