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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  UX Research Empathy Mapping |  Facilitation Decision Jam |  Facilitation Mind Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 a lot is assumed about a target group but little is seen jointly, empathy mapping makes knowledge and gaps directly comparable. The picture also shows which assumptions hold up and where evidence is missing. | When a decision is stuck, Decision Jam loosens the knot through structured separation of problem, idea, and selection. The format creates movement without jumping prematurely at the first seemingly elegant answer. | When a topic is still unclear and too many thoughts surface at once, Mind Mapping creates an open surface for ordering them. It makes connections, subtopics, and starting points visible without fixing them too early. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 30–60 min | 60-90 min | 15-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 4-8 | 4-10 | 1-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps | Problem Cluster, Prioritized Challenge, Experiment | Mind Map, Topic Clusters, Open Questions |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop | FacilitationDecisionProblem solvingWorkshop | BrainstormingIdeasMappingStructureFacilitation |