3 Preservation Bias Free Online FlashCards

What is preservation bias?

Preservation bias is the systematic distortion of evidence caused by uneven survival, selection, accessibility, or description of materials.

What filters shape which evidence researchers can find?

Available evidence passes through successive filters: creation, survival, collection, retention, access, and discovery through catalogs or search systems.

What can make materials survive unevenly?

Climate, burial conditions, fire, decay, reuse, and later construction can affect survival. Durable materials such as stone may remain when textiles or food remains do not.

How can collection choices shape later research?

Choices about what to collect, excavate, retain, or discard shape the evidence available later. Research priorities, costs, technology, and judgments of value can influence these choices.

Why is inaccessible evidence not necessarily nonexistent?

Preserved materials may be distant, fragile, uncataloged, legally restricted, or absent from digitized collections. Inaccessible evidence should not be mistaken for nonexistent evidence.

How can cataloging affect whether evidence is found?

Catalog terms and descriptions influence which searches retrieve an item. Inconsistent names or outdated terminology can misrepresent people or make related materials harder to find.

What is an important limit of archival description?

Archival description guides users to records and their contexts; it is not a complete representation of every item in a collection.

Why does the importance of preservation bias depend on the research question?

Preservation bias is a feature of how evidence became available, not simply a flaw. Its importance depends on the research question.

What should researchers do first when checking a claim for preservation bias?

Specify what evidence the claim would require, then consider which kinds are likely to survive or be collected.

What does it mean to trace the history of evidence?

Trace where, when, and how evidence was created, recovered, acquired, processed, described, and made accessible. Check provenance, collection policies, methods, and known gaps.

Why compare like with like when studying groups or periods?

Differences between periods or groups may reflect unequal preservation, survey effort, collection practices, or cataloging rather than differences in past behavior.

What can a gap in the evidence establish by itself?

A gap is a clue to investigate, not proof of either absence or deliberate suppression. Researchers should examine whether missing materials cluster by community, place, time, format, or policy.