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
- 10 cognitive biases to avoid in User Research (and how to avoid them)
- Availability heuristic
- Fundamental attribution error
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