Additionally, it seems that direct questioning of users can introduce biases in their behavior. This is a key area that Situated Research aims to protect: allowing users to act as naturally as possible in a situated environment. Interaction with the researcher can sometimes answer questions as to what is going on inside the user’s head, but often it biases their behavior, leading them down a path that otherwise might not have occurred.

Self-reporting by users can also cause problems: not because they are being deliberately dishonest, but because they often give answers that a researcher might want to hear, or because they do not know exactly what they want. With usability research and design, users can be a source for ideas (determining what they want) but often they cannot anticipate what they want until they see (use) it.