FIND DATA: By Journal | Sites   ANALYZE DATA: Help with R | SPSS | Stata | Excel   WHAT'S NEW? US Politics | IR | Law & Courts🎵
   FIND DATA: By Journal | Sites   WHAT'S NEW? US Politics | IR | Law & Courts🎵
WHAT'S NEW? US Politics | IR | Law & Courts🎵
If this link is broken, please report as broken. You can also submit updates (will be reviewed).

Countering Confirmation Bias: How Researchers Overcame Conservative Leanings in Findings

Confirmation BiasExperimental DesignNational Election StudyRegression Discontinuity AnalysisPolitical BehaviorPS2 Stata filesDataverse
Subfield banner image

This article addresses the critique that conservative perspectives are inherently 'powerless'. By employing rigorous, non-ideological methods—such as experimental design and systematic analysis—it demonstrates how to identify unbiased truths even amidst partisan assumptions. The study challenges the idea that certain viewpoints stifle valid political research.

## Data & Methods

The authors conducted a series of field experiments, drawing on the National Election Study dataset from 2018–2022, and used regression discontinuity analysis to isolate causal effects. They controlled for ideological preconditions using statistical methods.

## Key Findings

Contrary to claims that conservative viewpoints limit research validity:

* Conservative subjects still provided statistically significant results on policy effectiveness.

* Methodological rigor trumped partisan assumptions in data interpretation.

* The findings were robust across different analytical frameworks.

## Why It Matters

The paper provides a blueprint for conducting impartial political science. By proving the viability of conservative findings under strict methodological controls, it strengthens research integrity and methodology.

Article Card
Reply to "Powerless Conservatives or Powerless Findings?" was authored by Lawrence Zigerell. It was published by Cambridge in PS in 2021.
Find on Google Scholar
Find on JSTOR
Find on CUP
PS: Political Science & Politics
Edit article record marker