8-1 Discussion: Awareness of Cognitive Bias

Humans are inherently biased, so a successful business analyst should be able to minimize bias while working with data. Cognitive biases play a significant (though often unacknowledged) role in how we understand the world around us and are present when analyzing data.

In your initial post, address the following:

• From the video resource discussing twelve cognitive biases, what are two or three biases you may be prone to in your analyses for this course?
• How are they likely to affect your analyses and recommendations?
• How can this impact how you present your findings to your manager?
  • Is it enough to simply show the numbers or a graph and expect the reader to glean the same meaning as you have? Explain.
• How might you compensate for these biases in how you explain the results of your analysis or how you use or don’t use graphs and other visuals?