“…Many auditor-related factors could potentially affect the response or actions of the person being studied, including demographic features (e.g., age, race, and gender); the presence of stigmatized conditions (e.g., illegal drug use); cultural factors (e.g., clothing, accents, and body art); and emotional states (e.g., nervousness). 7,13,24 While it is likely not possible to completely mitigate this issue, there are potential strategies to reduce their impact, including providing auditors standardized backstories and training, conducting the audit by phone versus in-person, and selectively recruiting auditors with this purpose in mind. 10,11 One strategy to reduce the impact of bias on inter-rater reliability could be to utilize a smaller, more homogenous group of auditors, which may improve internal validity but reduce external validity.…”