personal equation
- noun
- /ˈpɜrsənl ɪˈkweɪʒən/
- Archaic
:
ecuación personal
- In psychological tests, the personal equation of each participant can significantly affect the outcomes.
You're going to remove these as risk factors in your personal equation when you reverse these numbers back to normal.
- You're going to remove these as risk factors in your personal equation when you reverse these numbers back to normal.
Examples
-
You're going to remove these as risk factors in your personal equation when you reverse these numbers back to normal.
-
Scientists must account for their own biases in the personal equation when conducting experiments.
-
The results of the study were distorted by the personal equation of the researchers involved.
How Biased
180
4.8
- Specialized
26
5.8
- Archaic
19
3.4
46
5.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'personal' clearly signals something individual, so a learner might guess the phrase refers to an individual factor; however 'equation' in its literal mathematical sense (equality/balance) does not directly convey ‘variation caused by bias’ and here functions metaphorically/technically. Because the phrase is a domain-specific term whose full meaning (individual bias or systematic variation in observations) requires disciplinary knowledge or exposure, it is partially interpretable but not fully predictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Personal equation may come from long-ago astronomers who found each observer recorded slightly different times for the same star because people's reactions were not the same. They treated that small, personal delay as a equation to correct, so today personal equation means the individual 'bias' or variation someone brings to a judgment.