Knowing the five deadly sins of research will enable you to deal with poor research practices and get more accurate research for your organisation.
- Over-Generalization
This sin occurs when a researcher has SOME believable evidence and then simply assumes it applies to all other scenarios too. A perfect example of this is where a research interviews five people whom drive fast cars and he finds that all the people he had interviewed live in the same area of town, say Block-8. Then the researcher generalizes that all people who live in block 8 drive fast cars.
- Selective Observations
This sin happens when the researcher takes special notice of certain people/ events/ occurrences due to the researcher preconceived ideologies and perceptions. Researcher usually seeks to find evidence to what they already know.
- Premature Closure
This occurs when the researcher feels that he/she already knows the outcomes or the answer to the research question. This is most often due to laziness and sloppy research.
- Halo Effect
The Halo effect occurs when the researcher decision and generalization is influenced by an author’s status; for instance if you read an article form a renowned author you unknowingly assume that the article is excellent unlike when your read work written from an unknown author or institution.
- False Consensus
The last research sin is where by the researcher cannot clearly differentiate between what their perceptions are and other people’s perceptions; crowd perceptions and personal perceptions may have a huge impact on research biases.