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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 30, 2026

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
06:42

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Published on: September 28, 2018

Testing the allegiance bias hypothesis: a meta-analysis.

Thomas Munder1, Heike Gerger, Sven Trelle

  • 1Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine-ISPM, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. tmunder@ispm.unibe.ch

Psychotherapy Research : Journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research
|July 30, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Researcher allegiance (RA) bias in psychotherapy research is linked to methodological weaknesses. Higher methodological quality (MQ) buffered this bias, indicating RA influences treatment outcome comparisons.

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Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults

Published on: October 19, 2014

Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry and Mental Health
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Research Methodology

Background:

  • Researcher allegiance (RA) is a potential bias in psychotherapy outcome studies.
  • Methodological weaknesses may exacerbate the impact of RA on treatment comparisons.
  • Understanding these factors is crucial for interpreting psychotherapy research findings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if methodological weaknesses explain the association between researcher allegiance and psychotherapy outcomes.
  • To examine the moderating and mediating roles of methodological quality (MQ) in the RA-outcome relationship.
  • To assess the influence of specific MQ components on the RA-outcome association.

Main Methods:

  • Meta-analysis of 79 psychotherapy comparisons for depression and PTSD.
  • Investigated MQ components: balanced factors, conceptual quality, patient-therapist ratio, randomization, and outcome assessment.
  • Analyzed MQ as a moderator and mediator of the RA-outcome association.

Main Results:

  • The association between researcher allegiance and relative treatment effect was stronger in studies with lower methodological quality.
  • Methodological quality demonstrated a buffering effect on the RA-outcome association.
  • Differences in conceptual quality of treatments mediated the effect of RA on outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Methodological weaknesses in treatment comparisons contribute to researcher allegiance bias.
  • Researcher allegiance acts as a bias in psychotherapy outcome research, particularly when study quality is low.
  • Improving methodological rigor is essential to mitigate bias in psychotherapy comparative effectiveness research.