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| Criterion |  UX Research Affinity Diagramming |  UX Research User Interviews |  Innovation Design Thinking |  UX Research Personas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer. | When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible. | For complex user problems with an uncertain cause, the method connects observation, interpretation, and experiment into a learning cycle. It keeps the focus on real needs and avoids premature solution language. This produces robust decisions for product and service. | When target groups stay too vague and teams talk about the same people differently, personas create a shared, solid picture of usage. Condensed profiles make needs, contexts, and differences tangible enough for decisions. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45–90 min | 30–60 min per interview | 1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen | 1-3 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 1 participant per interview | 4-10 | Internes Team |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Problem Statement, Prototype, Test Learnings | Persona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario Notes |
Tagsno overlap | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | InnovationPrototypeResearch | ResearchCustomerSynthesis |