Confirming what you know and finding what you don't
When you’re conducting research and investigations, it’s easy to get sidetracked by opinions, expectations, and wishful thinking. Sometimes we hope for or have too much invested in a particular outcome. Other times, we rely on our usual tools and techniques and don’t consider their limitations. The technical term is cognitive bias, and it means that […]
Research is research, right? As a private investigator and fraud examiner, I conduct a lot of research on people, companies, industries, and trends. Which is what I also did as a market researcher before becoming an investigator. Back then, I gathered information from online and human sources, looked for patterns, and transformed my findings into […]
This article originally appeared as a guest post on the Access/Information blog: Information is power. We’ve all heard this before, but are you basing your decisions on a limited or one-sided viewpoint? Whether we’re conducting market research, due diligence investigations, strategic planning – or just keeping up on the latest topics – we rely on […]
By definition, due diligence background investigations cover a lot of territory. We dig deep into a person’s past and present to help predict the future. By examining court filings, verifying credentials, and confirming employment history, we can determine if someone’s been involved in fraudulent activities and if they are who they say they are. Any […]
I just received one of the best phone calls an investigator can get. A client called to say thanks and let me know that our due diligence process worked. A fund manager lied about their MBA and had even supplied a falsified degree. Apparently, he’d gotten away with this for a while – until our […]
At the upcoming WebSearch University conference, I’m presenting a session called “The Pesky Problem of People-Finding.” I must credit program director Marydee Ojala for the catchy title. I liked it immediately, because it really highlights how frustrating investigating people can be. So what’s so annoying about people-finding? Here are my top reasons, and I’d love […]
A friend and fellow info pro sent this WSJ article to me, because, she said, it illustrated perfectly how “confirmation bias” often gets in the way of critical thinking. As information professionals, it’s something we strive to avoid, and it can rear its ugly head when we least expect it – in our choice of […]