Why Blinding? How Blinding? A Theory of Blinding and Its Application to Institutional Corruption

This chapter presents a theory of why blinding is a useful solution to bias, and how it works as a solution to bias. I draw from the familiar uses of blinding in biomedical science and in court procedures to show how blinding typically involves the disaggregation of functions within a system, so that some individuals have some information and other individuals have other information, while collectively achieving system goals without certain kinds of bias. Blinding is usefully distinguished from other solutions, including proscription, professionalism, and the provision of disclosures