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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Innovation Design Thinking |  Innovation Design Sprint |  Product Discovery Outcome-Driven Innovation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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 the product question is unclear and time pressure is high, the method takes a team from an open idea to a testable solution. It connects problem understanding, decision, and learning in one compact format, lowering the risk of spending a lot of energy on a mere guess. | Outcome-Driven Innovation clarifies customer problems, solution opportunities, and evidence. It separates jobs, desired outcomes, importance, satisfaction, and opportunity, and captures results as desired outcome statements, an opportunity landscape, and segments by underserved needs. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | High | High |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen | 4-5 Tage | Mehrere Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 4-10 | 5-8 | 2-6 researchers plus sample |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Problem Statement, Prototype, Test Learnings | Prototype, Test Findings, Decision Rationale | Desired outcome statements, Opportunity landscape, Segmentation by underserved needs, Innovation hypotheses |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | InnovationPrototypeResearch | Design sprintPrototypeValidationInnovation | OutcomesInnovationResearchQuantitative |