Over Confidence Bias in User Research

What is Overconfidence Bias in User Research?

Overconfidence Bias is one of the most popular kinds of biases that we see during User Research. The team can be led to believe that one thing a user said is the most important thing and applies to all.

For Example: During Usability Testing the moderator asked people why they are not able to use the filter function to search products on the app. Few said they could not understand how it is used, some said they could not discover it. So the moderator just asked, “Have you used the filter function”? If the User said No, he would make an assumption that it must have been because he/she couldn’t understand its function or might not have discovered it. The cause for the other users behind not using the Filter option could be — not being able to search relevant products under category while searching using filters or their perceived usefulness of the function is low.

How do we reduce this?

For every piece of feedback, ask yourself how you’re framing the data. The awareness of a process will help you understand why your perspective feels positive or negative. Take into consideration additional perspectives from competitor research and other team member inputs.

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