Reviews - Balancing Objective and Subjective

Reviews - Balancing objective and subjective

Objective and subjective have always confused me. I don't think it's that hard for most for most folks to keep them straight, but for me it is. It's not that I don't know the difference, I do, it's not the definitions I have trouble with, it's which is which. So, and for me, I did a little research to properly define them, compare them, relate them to reviews and define how bias plays a part in the process.
 

Objective

Purely objective observations are only facts. Mathematical calculations are purely objective. Measurable statistics, colors, shape, weight, density, size all are objective. Facts are objective. Your math teacher is teaching an objective subject. The test given by the math teacher the answers will be correct or incorrect, simple and unbiased, one plus one equals two, if I answer three, I am incorrect.
The first stage of our review process is to gather the facts, objective observations about the headsets. The list of headsets will be expanded into a chart that will include facts and statistics about the headsets. The initial list will contain facts about the headsets and will not contain opinions. This will be part of the objective portion of the review.
 

Subjective

Subjective views are based in reality and are the opinion of the person giving the analysis of the subject. The subjective portion of the review can be very helpful if the reviewer has the ability to interpret the statistics. Given the objective data a good review can help make sense of the data. Couple that with the intangible opinion of the reviewer and you have a good guideline for a solid purchasing decision. To provide a good review and become your voice of experience, the reviewer needs to be able to identify and state any personal bias. In recognizing and stating bias, the review can progress without the perception of or wandering if an unknown agenda lurks.
 

Comparing Objective and Subjective

A quote from Mark Twain, "Figures never lie, but liars figure."
The reason I used the word 'purely' in the two preceding sections, as in 'purely objective' and 'purely subjective' is that I wanted to imply that there is some margin with respect to both terms. They don't necessarily overlap, but there are elements of each in the other. To say that objective is fact is not true in that if they were readily interchangeable we would have no need for both words. They are not drastically different, however, objective is more like 'the facts as we know them', or 'given the data we have, here is the result.' The key is that objective views are always backed by facts.
Subjective views can be more valuable to us as consumers than objective views. Ideally what we seek in a review is the subjective view of a fellow consumer who has the product, has used it, and can make value judgements based on his experience.
To apply objective and subjective to our topic of headsets the goal is to have a review source that actively reviews headsets, gathers objective data and presents it in a comparative format, uses the headsets and gives impressions and opinions while minimizing bias.
 

How they apply to reviews

The objective data is absent soul, the subjective can be is all feel without the cold data. A review is the combination of the two elements. Presentation of the data about headsets makes up the objective. Hands on use of the headsets gives the reviewer the intangible input to form and present his subjective view. The review combines the objective and subjective to form recommendations for users, inquire about issues to manufacturers, and give an overall feel.
 

The Bias Effect

When we see an ad we all know that we are being sold. Advertisers are not required to tell us that they are trying to sell, we know they're promoting their product. When we hear 'best in the world', 'world famous', 'number one', or any other of these superlative claims we know to take it with a grain of salt. One advertisement even references the legal term for these claims when talking about their competition, the term is puffery. Not fact, just their totally biased opinion and at the same time completely legitimate given their bias up front. The purpose of an ad is to promote and sell not to inform.
We all make decisions based on what we're exposed to. The more exposure a products receives, the more likely sales will be made. I worked in the ultra high end audio business from the mid eighties to the early nineties. I spent hours reading "The Absolute Sound" a well written extreme tweak audiofile magazine. The magazine's reviewers had their collective noses so far in the air they routinely referred to the more popular audio review magazine "Stereophile" as "Stereopile" - nice. We sold products that were well reviewed in "The Absolute Sound" and, to keep the doors open, we carried and sometimes sold lines that were panned in the same magazine. The products that were not sonically approved by the high end reviewers were very well advertised and promoted and were what most consumers were looking for, because of exposure. So, we carried these well advertised products, and could, in fact, make more money by selling these products. We made the customer aware of the reviews, gave them our opinions, told them what we owned, what we would buy and attempt to guide rather than push. I acted as the customer's personal reviewer giving them exposure to products that were not as well advertised, but were better products. The reason was simple, more of the budget devoted to research, development, production and materials than advertising. The price for the higher end products was length of warranty. The better the products typically have shorter warranties. Keep in mind that there are exceptions. Longer warranties on lesser products can make the products more desirable. The glaring exception is the highest of the high end. Many of the ultra exclusive, ultra expensive products in electronics have very long warranties some as long as for the life of the initial purchaser, you can have it all, and you pay for it.
This leads us to bias. Keep in mind that for some of us an inexpensive product that will do the job is what we need, for some of us we want the best regardless of price. Price is a major factor in any buying decision, but be aware that price is not directly related to performance. If a company spends a major portion of it's budget in advertising, the price of the advertising is built into the price of the products, the result is that you may pay for promoting rather than performance.
In our case, that is looking for a headset, our bias is both what we're looking for in a headset and outlining any preconceived notions. One additional bias type is the unforeseen bias that manifest as a product of doing the review; these we will identify and state as they arise.
 

Summary

The goal for the review should be to convey that hands on experienced opinion we all look for from friends who have products we are considering. We are aware of, or have a feel for the bias of our friends, bias, in this case, can also be referred to as perspective, so we can gauge their opinions by applying their bias and have an opinion we can work with. To be able to get this from a review we need to have a feel for the perspective of the reviewer and the objective and subjective portions of the review should be clearly defined. What we look for in a review is a good word of mouth opinion from the voice of experience.