Mrunali Balki
Date: 14 July 2020, Tuesday
Name of Speaker: Mrunali Balki
Designation: Assistant Professor
Title of Proposition: Working with Biases in Research: Perspectives of an Early Research Scholar
The proposition is based on the fundamental idea that bias, usually perceived as negative for research, provides scholars with positive aspects in the early stages of their research. It helps them to achieve flexibility and bring in different perspectives while simultaneously widening the scope of their project.
The proposition begins with an exploration of the multidisciplinary contexts of the term ‘bias’, which is restricted not only to research but also comes from everyday life; in both, it is perceived as a negative term. Taking the specific example of the speaker’s ongoing research on the built environment, bias is explored as something that provides a positive trajectory for research when adopted as a methodological tool for exploration. This method opens avenues for innovative experimentation.
Some of the questions that came up during the discussion point to furthering more nuanced definitions of bias, its continued relevance in research, and the reiteration of bias as a positive analogy. The thinking tool was floated as a way for the scholar to recognize and be cognizant of the continued presence of biases in research, and in life.
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVRwqsTNvFI
