Research should not be done in surveys. The old way was at least a powerpoint presentation, vertical slice, or a wishlist. However, people have gone wise to wishlists. Prototypes are the new PPT and faster to set up.

Customer interviews tend to exclude a lot of things too. Do people want a browser without a million tabs open? Sure. Do people want a payment gateway that can be set up in an hour? That sounds like a scam, but why not? Do people want a game about a plumber jumping on tortoises who shoots fireballs whenever they eat a flower? Probably not.

I do believe people have a good idea of what they want to bring to the world and at some point it's just easier to show what they had in mind.