The objectives of the present study were to clarify the influence of flames on phase-Doppler anemometry (PDA) and to consider quantitatively the accuracy of measured sizes and velocities using a known-size polystyrene particle and a Bunsen burner placed in the optical path in PDA simulating the variation of refractive index in a combusting field. It was found that fluctuations of a flame had some influence on the measurement, especially on size, while the velocities obtained in these experiments showed little influence of the flame. Furthermore, a compensation procedure for the error was discussed by comparing the scattered data in size measurement with the displacement of incident laser beams. As a result, it was found that the displacement of the laser beams can be related to the degree of errors caused by the influence of a flame on the optical path in PDA.