Is there a word or phrase for when someone is testing for a certain result thereby skewing his findings?
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3$\begingroup$ If you don't have luck here, try english.stackexchange.com $\endgroup$ – BMS Feb 11 '14 at 3:14
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2$\begingroup$ This question appears to be off-topic because it is about non-physics-specific terminology. Depending on interpretations it is either about a psychology term or a statistical notion. $\endgroup$ – user10851 Feb 11 '14 at 3:50
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2$\begingroup$ This question appears to be off-topic because it not about physics and should be on english.stackexchange.com $\endgroup$ – Kyle Kanos Feb 11 '14 at 3:50
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Confirmation bias might be what you're after.
From wiki:
Confirmation bias [...] is the tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses.
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$\begingroup$ not exactly, the question doesn't say that the someone is favouring to take only positive results $\endgroup$ – unsym Feb 11 '14 at 3:50
