Keith makes an interesting point about the attitudes and motivations of research session observers.

“… what’s more dangerous: someone who doesn’t attend any sessions, or someone that attends 1 or 2 sessions but misinterprets what they see and hear?”

What I came to realise is that the question is not whether people should attend research. It’s how they listen and observe during research, and whether they take part in group analysis after research.

In the full article Keith highlights behaviours that are avoidable during research sessions. I found these particularly interesting:

3. Go to sessions with an open mind. It’s all too easy to attend a single lab session with the intention of confirming an existing hunch or assumption.
4. If you have it, compare your test participant’s behaviour with data from your live or beta service.