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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Architecture C4 Model |  Growth A/B Testing |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When content only makes sense internally and users can't find the structure again, card sorting exposes their mental order. Terms, groups, and naming are then aligned with the target group's expectations. | The C4 Model makes a system legible across several resolution levels, from context down to code. It suits situations where different audiences need to understand the same architecture from different altitudes. | When two variants compete, discussions quickly decide by taste rather than effect. A/B Testing checks behavior under controlled conditions and separates real improvement from chance or expectation effects. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 1-4 h | 1-4 Wochen | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 1-5 | 1-6 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Context Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram | Experiment results, Decision log, Learning summary | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization | ExperimentsGrowthAnalyticsValidation | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |