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Seeing/hearing and sighted/blind tests
In article uxp1c.31737$ko6.305019@attbi_s02,
(Michael Scarpitti) wrote:
"Bob Marcus" wrote in message
news:B0b1c.102451$Xp.438688@attbi_s54...
Michael Scarpitti wrote:
I would like you to explain how 'sighted bias' explains what I heard
in detail, not just in general.
If what you "heard" you only imagined, then we can't explain in detail what
you "heard," because we can't know everything that was going on in your
head
at the time. What you *imagined* you heard could have been affected by the
order in which you listened to the amps, for all we know. All "sighted
bias"
offers is a *possible* explanation for two things: 1) the fact that you
perceived a difference among these amps at all; and 2) the fact that, once
having identified a certain sound with each amp, your subsequent auditions
confirmed those impressions. That this explanation is indeed possible is a
proven scientific fact, and Steven Sullivan has suggested a few textbooks
which will confirm that.
Repeated trials that confirm earlier trials are not considered in
science to be indicative of bias. Quite the contrary.
Since no bias controls were implemented, there are two possible
explanations for your initial outcome and repetition. One is that you
were biased. The other is that you were observing something real.
There is no way to know which is the case, so science says "Come back
when you've implemented bias controls."
Now you will protest that you are pure as the driven snow and cannot
possibly be biased. In science, it doesn't matter how much you believe
in yourself. Real science is done by eliminating the very possibility
of human weakness affecting the outcome, because nobody is perfect.
Science learned long ago that no matter how good the conscious intent of
the experimenter, bias is not only possible, it's very common.
So, your statement above is simply wrong. Repeated trials tainted by
bias do not purify the test, because multiple biased results don't add
up to unbiased any more than multiple wrongs add up to a right.
A basic truth about listening comparisons is this: If you know what you are
listening to, then everything you've ever heard, read or thought about that
component can affect how you hear it. That's inescapable, my friend.
False on its face.
You are deluding yourself.
--
Tim
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