EMPIRICISM-NARCISSISM BIAS:
A bias that occurs when a person de-emphasizes, or dismisses the results of study because they are just ‘numbers’ and claimed to not reflect the wider reality of clinical practice1.
Empiricism-Narcissism Bias may also be evident when a person dismisses the importance of a study because the study is ‘just a pre-print‘ and not published in a peer-reviewed journal yet; even though it may be valid in regards to its statistical and clinical significance (publishing a study in a peer-reviewed journal may take months to years irrespective of the study’s quality, and peer-review does not guarantee that a study will be valid2).
Empiricism-Narcissism Bias is a type of Interpretive Bias. Arguably, to prevent this bias authors of research studies should build a strong case for the clinical significance of the results, and discuss the differences between statistical and clinical significance (see Significance Bias). Also see: Interpretive Bias, Significance Bias, and Potential Breakthrough Bias.
References:
1. Earl-Slater A. The Handbook of Clinical Trials and Other Research. Abingdon: Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd. 2002. (Link to Reference)
2. Bruce R, Chauvin A, Trinquart L, Ravaud P, Boutron I. Impact of interventions to improve the quality of peer review of biomedical journals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Med. 2016;14(1):85. (Link to Reference)