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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  UX Research Tree Testing |  Decision Making Constraint 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. | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | 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. | When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 20–45 min | 1-2 Tage | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | Small cross-functional group | Based on research question | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Findability Metrics, Path Analysis, Revised IA | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | Information architectureNavigationFindability | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions |