You might wonder, how is it possible for experts to avoid bias when there are so many types, like dozens?\u00a0 Google “bias” and see what I mean.\u00a0 I saw one link where the dozens were categorized under the letters of the alphabet.\u00a0 Fortunately, it’s possible to do something about bias by learning about the key ones that can trip us up.<\/p>\n
Speakers at the recent Expert Witness Forum East in Toronto identified\u00a0categories of bias\u00a0that experts must be alert to.\u00a0 I was surprised by the\u00a0number and the fact that some bordered on deliberate. (Ref. 1)<\/p>\n
Experts must get familiar with the ones that can show up in our investigations and evidence.\u00a0 This is a first step in rooting it out, and not being broadsided by a peer review, a rebuttal report or a cross-examination.\u00a0 It won’t matter to those few given to deliberate bias.\u00a0 But there are the rest of us, the great majority.<\/p>\n
Two presentations on the first day<\/em> of the Forum introduced us to implicit bias<\/em>.\u00a0 Initially with a talk on Addressing Implicit Bias On and Off the Stand (Ref. 2) and\u00a0then with an Interactive Session. (Ref. 3)<\/p>\n Dealing with implicit bias<\/strong><\/p>\n The interactive session made it clear that in dealing with implicit bias we must:<\/p>\n Categories of bias in expert evidence <\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0presentation on the second day<\/em> of the Expert\u00a0Forum identified eight (8)\u00a0categories of bias in expert evidence: (Ref. 4)<\/p>\n The\u00a0speaker then went on to focus on the last two in\u00a0the list and\u00a0elaborated as follows:<\/p>\n Expectation Bias (Anchoring)<\/strong><\/p>\n Confirmation Bias (“Tunnel Vision”)<\/strong><\/p>\n Examples of bias in Nova Scotia<\/strong><\/p>\n Public examples<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Expectation bias and Confirmation bias\u00a0figured in the forensic investigation of\u00a0the fatal accident of Janice Johnson\u00a0in\u00a0Nova Scotia that resulted in her husband, Clayton Johnson, going\u00a0to jail for\u00a0five years falsely accused of murdering her.\u00a0(Ref. 4) The case was\u00a0described in the presentation along with two others elsewhere in Canada, one a murder that was disguised as a suicide and another, a car accident.\u00a0\u00a0I gathered from the presentation that expectation bias and confirmation bias figured in the faulty investigation of the latter\u00a0two as well.<\/p>\n Personal examples<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I have my own\u00a0examples of bias in civil litigation.\u00a0 One, a visual assessment of slope stability from the comfort of the\u00a0investigator’s car, disparagingly called “a\u00a0drive-by” evaluation\u00a0in the real estate business and against some of their regulations.\u00a0 And another, a critical assessment of the\u00a0soil conditions at a site without a site visit.\u00a0 I\u00a0peer reviewed\u00a0the technical\u00a0reports on both these cases.<\/p>\n It was easy to conclude the “drive-by”\u00a0type assessment at the one site because the\u00a0poor construction and unstable slope were there to be seen by walking across and down the slope, particularly at the toe.\u00a0\u00a0The slope\u00a0was actually dangerous to walk across at the bottom.\u00a0 The wording of the report exhibited Professional Bias (Self Interest),\u00a0with an eye\u00a0to the next forensic commission.<\/p>\n My second site was easy too because even\u00a0non-technical people know you can’t define a\u00a0surface properly with two points – simple high school geometry – and that would have been obvious with a site visit.\u00a0\u00a0How do I know there wasn’t a\u00a0site visit?\u00a0 Because\u00a0it wasn’t mentioned in the report I reviewed.\u00a0 It’s an important\u00a0task that would have been reported in detail in an expert’s report.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Getting familiar\u00a0with bias will increase the chances that your case – expert and civil litigation lawyer alike – is not broadsided\u00a0by peer review, rebuttal\u00a0or cross-examination.\u00a0 You can’t sabotage the dozens of different types of bias but you can\u00a0learn about the few that creep into forensic work.<\/p>\n (Note:<\/strong> The numbered and bulleted lists in my blog were taken directly from the references)<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n You might wonder, how is it possible for experts to avoid bias when there are so many types, like dozens?\u00a0 Google “bias” and see what I mean.\u00a0 I saw one link where the dozens were categorized under the letters of … Continue reading \n
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