First observers: the origin of bias in scientific reporting

Scientists report their findings with inherent bias. It can be explicitly stated or implicit.

In college, I first encountered this underpinning of science in ethology. This course elective focused on quantifying and understanding animal behaviors in nature. I was shocked to learn that most of what we understand about animals in nature is based on the observations of one or two scientists or naturalists. Even in science, bias is explicit.

It can be difficult to undo the influence of these initial observations and conclusions of the first reporter.

In the future, as the scientific community expands in its diversity, I hope that many single observational studies will be revisited by a multitude of diverse observers as this is the only way to wash out the explicit and implicit biases of the past. This revisiting of observational studies must be valued in our future scientific endeavors and in an ever-evolving context. The reporting of science by diverse observers will not necessarily push aside previous observations but will strip out what could not be seen or acknowledged in the past and that which was unconscious in previous observers.