Error Management Bias in Student Design Teams

Abstract

This research examines how cognitive bias manifests in the design activities of graduate student design teams, with a particular focus on how to uncover evidence of these biases through survey-based data collection. After identifying bias in design teams, this work discusses those biases with consideration for the intent of error management, through the lens of adaptive rationality. Data were collected in one graduate-level design course across nine design teams over the course of a semester-long project. Results are shown for five different types of bias: bandwagon, availability, status quo, ownership, and hindsight biases. The conclusions drawn are based on trends and statistical correlations from survey data, as well as course deliverables. This work serves as a starting point for highlighting the most common forms of bias in design teams, with the goal of developing ways in which to mitigate those biases in future work.