Measurement Bias

Abstract

You open your program before the start of a basketball game and see the rosters for each team along with the height of each player. What thought runs through your mind? Maybe it’s, “Hmmm, I wonder if these players are really that tall.” Since there is an advantage to having tall basketball players on your team, sometimes these figures are “stretched” a bit toward the larger values. This is an example of bias.Interestingly enough, if the opposing team has even taller players, you might be concerned about the outcome of the game. Even though both sets of heights might be biased, the comparison between the sizes of the teams might be fair.