Potential effects of the confirmation bias in house condition surveys

Abstract

Surveyor variability has a significant impact on the accuracy and reliability of house condition surveys. Reports on one particular cognitive bias that surveyors may use when undertaking house condition surveys – the confirmation bias. Two experiments are conducted to investigate the confirmation bias. The experiments seem to indicate that the confirmation bias does have the potential to have an impact on condition survey decision making and therefore to contribute to surveyor variability. Methods of dealing with the bias are discussed; particularly the potential application of expert systems alongside hand‐held data‐capture devices.