Does structured formatting (JSON, tables, logs) reduce position bias compared to unstructured prose? Or does the visual/structural regularity make middle-position items harder to find?
| # | Format | Target | Hypothesis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JSON Array | Key-value pair | Structured nesting may reduce bias |
| 2 | Markdown Table | Row value | Tabular structure provides visual anchors |
| 3 | Log File | Error code | Timestamp ordering may create temporal bias |
1pip install -r requirements.txt
2python run_all.py --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct --num-items 100 --num-examples 50"Position Bias Index is significantly lower in tabular formats (PBI=0.18) than in JSON arrays (PBI=0.35) or prose (PBI=0.42), suggesting visual structure mitigates positional bias."
1@software{structured_data_position_bias,
2 title={Structured Data Position Bias: How Format Affects Long-Context Retrieval},
3 author={abhshkp},
4 year={2026},
5 url={https://huggingface.co/abhshkp/structured-data-position-bias}
6}