Intro

How much can you trust what users tell you?

In this solo episode, we dive into one of the most slippery yet essential tools in UX research: self-reporting. From interviews to surveys, self-reports are everywhere—but they come with hidden psychological traps.

We explore:

• Why self-reported data can be both useful and misleading
• The psychological reasons people often misrepresent their own behavior
• When to trust what users say—and when to dig deeper
• The subtle difference between described and observed behavior

If you’ve ever relied on user quotes to justify a design decision—or been burned by data that didn’t translate to real-world outcomes—this episode will give you a sharper lens for interpreting what users say versus what they do.

Tune in to sharpen your research instincts and make your design decisions more psychologically grounded.