Blinding techniques are methods used in research to prevent bias by keeping participants and/or researchers unaware of certain aspects of a study. This is often done to ensure that expectations do not influence outcomes. For example, in a clinical trial, participants may not know whether they are receiving a treatment or a placebo, which helps to maintain the integrity of the results. There are different levels of blinding, including single-blind and double-blind designs. In a single-blind study, only the participants are unaware of their group assignment, while in a double-blind study, both participants and researchers are kept in the dark. This helps to enhance the reliability of the findings.