A Brilliant Way to Detect Bias

Source: A Way to Detect Bias

This is remarkably elegant.

Summary:

1. You are worried that some group is being unfairly filtered out of your selection process

2. Create an extremely high quality performance test, i.e. that tests actual performance (and not some other thing) as best as possible

3. Give everyone who has been recently hired this performance test

4. If the group in question scores significantly higher than others on that test, then you know you have bias in the selection process

Powerful and elegant.

Notes

1. I think one caveat could be that you might need some significant numbers for this to work. If you are worried about bias against people from New Jersey (I’m not), you might just hire one badass from there and assume bias when in fact he was the only one from there who applied.

2. Ignore the picture. It’s a Tricorder.