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| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  UX Research User Interviews |  UX Research Affinity Diagramming |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 30–60 min per interview | 45–90 min |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 1 participant per interview | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause |
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