Human Factors is more than just help with the design and testing of a product. This field is also heavily involved in things like how best to design a space for maximum efficiency, so things like operating rooms. Human Factors is also prevalent in aviation, everything from the design of a cockpit to the job details of a air traffic controller comes under the purview of this field.
The definition of situation awareness is up to debate depending on who you ask. However, here is a good definition given to us by Martin Anderson, a Human Factors specialist with nearly 30 years experience in the field with complex systems and high-hazard industries:
"Developing and maintaining a dynamic awareness of the situation and the risks present in an activity, based on gathering information from multiple sources from the task environment, understanding what the information means and using it to think ahead about what may happen next."
While situational awareness is heavily used for things like military application, let's use a more friendly example: video games! Specifically, an MMO called Final Fantasy XIV Online.
First, defining an MMO: a massive multiplayer online game, generally with an open-world concept and extensive questing systems. They always have battle instances that are meant to be done with a group of people (in this case 8) to defeat a large boss for cool rewards. These games also usually have three sets of classes: tanks, damage dealers, and healers/supports.
There are a few methods that can be used here. There are several different types of surveys, methods in which you interrupt a participant mid task to ask questions, and retroactive interview protocols.
Suppose we wanted to do a very quick and informal look into how the demands of these three classes play into situation awareness. Well that is exactly what we did, asking people retroactively who play each class for a major battle instance if they are aware of what other party members are doing at any given moment* and here are the results:
Tanks - were unable to give more than basic positioning at best.
Damage dealers - are highly focused on their own role and damage rotation and were unable to provide information on group members.
Healers - the best at providing descriptions of player positions. This makes a certain amount of sense, as they are responsible for keeping all the players alive throughout the instance.
*Note: this particular battle instance is mechanic intensive and the different classes are all doing different things at the same time.
Anderson, M. (n.d.). Situation awareness: Making sense of the world. Human Factors 101.
https://humanfactors101.com/topics/situation-awareness/
Breton, R., & Rousseau, R. (2001). Situation awareness: a review of the concept and its measurement.