In probability and statistics, if a bias exists it means that the processes involved are not totally random, or one outcome is favoured over others.
A bias is a prejudice in a general or specific sense, usually in the sense for having a predilection to one particular point of view or ideology. One is said to be biased if one is influenced by one's biases. A bias could, for example, lead one to accept or not-accept the truth of a claim, not because of the strength of the claim itself, but because it does or does no ...
One might refer, for example, to the systemic, systematic, or institutional bias of a particular institution in devaluing contributions by women or ethnic minorities. For example, a poetry competition that was consistently won by white men could be subject to suspicion of a bias if there was no inherent reason that white men would consistently be the best poets. Such a bias could be deliberate on the part of the participants or entirely unconscious.
For example, the poetry contest might be judged by a pool drawn from its own previous ...
There is some contention over the choice of the word systemic as opposed to systematic. When it is used to contrast with random error, in that it is not just a matter of inaccurate results or readings, but results that are persistently inaccurate in a particular way, then the more common usage is systematic bias or systematic error.
Some users of the phrase try to draw a distinction between systemic and systematic corresponding to that between unplanned and planned, or to that between arising from the chara ...
