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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  UX Research Tree Testing |  Product Discovery Assumption 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 demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | 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 assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 1-5 Tage | 1-2 Tage | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | Nutzertraffic | Based on research question | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Findability Metrics, Path Analysis, Revised IA | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | Information architectureNavigationFindability | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |