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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  UX Research Tree Testing |  Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers. | When a navigation exists but search paths still fail, tree testing checks findability without visual distraction. The method shows whether labels, levels, and paths really lead to the intended destination. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 30-60 min | 1-2 Tage | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 2-8 | Based on research question | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Findability Metrics, Path Analysis, Revised IA | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | Root causeQualityOperations | Information architectureNavigationFindability | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause |