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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Product Discovery Context Canvas |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |
|---|---|---|---|
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. | When an environment of users, systems, and constraints is hard to grasp, it puts the context compactly on the table. It creates a clear reading of influence, boundary, and dependency. | When work processes are known only from accounts and the real context stays hidden, Contextual Inquiry makes behavior at the workplace visible. Observation and follow-up questions together show how people actually work, get interrupted, and improvise. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 45-90 min | 1-3 Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 3-10 | 4-12 Beobachtungen |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Context canvas, Open questions, Shared context notes | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | ContextFramingRequirementsCanvas | UX researchObservationContext |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
