RMP.3:6 - Bias-Annotation

Operational choices determine whose cases and which phenomena become visible. Inspect convenience sampling, survivorship, accessible-source bias and exclusions that protect a favoured explanation. A well-documented restriction can remain an answer-changing bias.

Also inspect the researcher’s position. Prompt wording, relationships, technical competence and access can shape encounters and interpretations. Preserve the contribution that matters to the chosen approach; do not impose one philosophy of interpretation or universal coder-agreement requirement.

Instrument familiarity and organizational pressure favour choices that are easy to execute and report. Ask whether an inconvenient rival would still be observable under the completed arrangement. In mixed inquiry, check whether apparently different components rely on the same selected cases or assumptions.