Psychological / Cognitive Biases in User Research

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An old friend got in touch to ask about confirmation bias in user research and if I had any resources. I shared them with him and I’m sharing them with you.

What is confirmation bias?

Confirmation bias states that we seek out / prefer / are drawn to data that supports our point of view, theory or hypothesis and are reluctant / shy away from / dismiss data that doesn’t support our point of view.

A great primer
Confirmation Bias – It’s Not What We Think We Know That Counts | Interaction Design Foundation

Some real science on confirmation bias
Under what conditions does theory obstruct research progress? – Semantic Scholar

Examples of confirmation bias
Examples and Observations of a Confirmation Bias

Other cognitive biases in user research

I worked as series editor on a fantastic book about User Research last year, well worth a read to improve your research skills:

  • Researching UX: user research (Aspects of UX) by Emma Howell and James Lang. Amazon UK | Amazon USA

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