The uploaded study guide identifies A. Allow the user to explore the application without specific questions regarding which tasks to perform as the correct way to reduce confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias occurs when researchers consciously or unconsciously seek evidence that supports what they already believe. In this scenario, Cloud Kicks already knows that the application is not performing as expected, so directing users toward suspected problems could influence what researchers observe.
Allowing participants to explore without narrowly steering them toward predefined tasks gives the team a better opportunity to discover what users naturally notice, attempt, and struggle with.
Option C explicitly asks researchers to confirm an existing hypothesis, making it the opposite of the desired approach.
Option B uses open-ended questions, which can be useful in research, but the study guide does not select it as the strongest response in this scenario.
The core Human-Centered Design lesson is to allow evidence from users to challenge the team's assumptions. Researchers should avoid constructing sessions in a way that merely validates what they already expect to find.
This makes exploratory observation particularly valuable when the cause of a performance or usability problem is uncertain.
Study Guide reference/topics: Confirmation Bias, user feedback, research neutrality, Human-Centered Design.
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