HelPeR - BYU Idaho Special Collections and Family History

Controlling
Bias in Genealogy Research
By Ro b e r t D. He n n o n
Are you becoming frustrated with your genealogical research because you are not finding what you think
you should Feel like giving up If you answer “yes,” you are probably not alone.
AVolunteering as an attendant at my local Family
History Center for the past seven years, I became
interested in the kinds of remarks beginners to genealogical
research made when responding to help.
These statements range from strictly personal ones to
those gleaned from family members, teachers, books,
magazines, and various and sundry sources telling
them how to do genealogical research. Some of the
typical remarks are: “Why can’t I find my gggrandfather
His name has always been spelled that way,”
“I’m only interested in the census
to find where my great grandfather
lived,” “Deeds only show
where people live,” “I found it on
the Internet and it is not true,“ “I
found it on the Internet and it is
my family. I don’t need anything
else.” “I can’t read this stuff because
it’s foreign,” “I don’t really
need a birth certificate because I
know when they were born,” and
on and on. Some persons persevere
and eventually succeed, but
many never return to the Family
History Center. Why The answer can be found hidden
in the statements made.
Somewhere along the way to encouraging family
research, the beginner has been told to look for
certain information in this or that document, in this
or that way, and when their ancestor was not found
or they did not find the information they think they
should have, they tend to give up. What they have
been told began a process of setting biases that, unfortunately,
often leads to negative results, hence,
a turn-off to further work in genealogy. Making
the beginning researcher aware of these negative
biases and the influence on genealogical research,
Once you begin
to change the way
in which you view
your world, your
biases will begin
to drop away and
your research
skills will improve.
and some ways to minimize its effects will be the
thrust of this article.
The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. defines the
word “bias” in a number of ways, but the two listings
that pertain to genealogy research are: 1) “an inclination,
or propensity; predisposition towards; predilection;
prejudice,” and 2) “a swaying influence, impulse,
or weight, ‘any thing which turns a man to a particular
course, or gives the direction to his measures.’”
Now, I am not a psychologist or sociologist, but it
seems to me biases are acquired in
two major stages during our maturation
process, the pre-adult and
the adult stage. At what point we
leave the pre-adult and enter the
adult stage varies from person to
person. Generally, the transition
can be identified at the point when
we assume responsibility for our
own welfare. Even though most
of us assume this responsibility,
the biases imprinted upon us in
the pre-adult stage become major
factors determining the directions
our lives will take in the adult stage.
The pre-adult stage can be divided in at least two
sub-stages: the pre-school period and the post-school
period. Regardless of when the post-school period
begins, it is in the pre-school period that our principal
caregivers have the most impact on our perceptions
and expectations of the world. Our caregivers
teach us the rules and regulations on how to survive
in the world and these rules and regulations become
biases we cling to throughout our lives. As we begin
to break away from the immediate control of the
caregiver and enter some kind of formal educational
system we acquire additional rules and regulations
30 © Ev e r t o n’s Ge n e a l o g i c a l He l p e r Ja n ua ry/Fe b r u a r y 2009