Question 198 - Certified User Experience Designer discussion

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses, while ignoring or discounting information that contradicts them1. Confirmation bias can affect user feedback sessions by influencing how the researcher designs the test, asks the questions, observes the behavior, and analyzes the data of the users.Confirmation bias can lead to inaccurate or incomplete insights, and ultimately to poor design decisions2.

One way to avoid confirmation bias in user feedback sessions is to allow the user to explore the application without specific questions regarding which tasks to perform. This can help the researcher to observe the user's natural and spontaneous interaction with the application, without imposing any expectations or assumptions on them. This can also help the user to express their honest opinions and feelings about the application, without being influenced by the researcher's questions or suggestions.This can result in more authentic and unbiased feedback, and more reliable and valid insights3.

Asking open-ended questions staying away from questions regarding feelings is not a good way to avoid confirmation bias in user feedback sessions, because it can limit the depth and richness of the feedback, and miss the opportunity to understand the user's emotions and motivations. Open-ended questions are questions that allow the user to answer in their own words, rather than choosing from a predefined set of options. Open-ended questions are useful for eliciting more detailed and nuanced feedback, and for exploring the user's thoughts and feelings about the application. However, asking open-ended questions alone is not enough to prevent confirmation bias, as the researcher may still unconsciously frame the questions in a way that leads the user to confirm their hypotheses, or interpret the answers in a way that supports their beliefs.Asking questions regarding feelings is also important, as it can help the researcher to understand the user's emotional response to the application, and how it affects their satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty4.

Asking specific questions about known pain points to confirm your hypothesis is a bad way to avoid confirmation bias in user feedback sessions, because it can introduce the researcher's bias into the feedback process, and influence the user's perception and behavior. Asking specific questions about known pain points can lead the researcher to focus only on the information that confirms their hypothesis, and ignore or dismiss the information that challenges or contradicts it. It can also lead the user to pay more attention to the pain points that the researcher mentions, and overlook or downplay the other aspects of the application.This can result in skewed and distorted feedback, and misleading and invalid insights5.