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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  UX Research Tree Testing |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Product Discovery Context Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 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 work processes are known only from accounts and the real context stays hidden, Contextual Inquiry makes behavior at the workplace visible. Observation and follow-up questions together show how people actually work, get interrupted, and improvise. | When an environment of users, systems, and constraints is hard to grasp, it puts the context compactly on the table. It creates a clear reading of influence, boundary, and dependency. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 1-2 Tage | 1-3 Wochen | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | Based on research question | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Findability Metrics, Path Analysis, Revised IA | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Context canvas, Open questions, Shared context notes |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | Information architectureNavigationFindability | UX researchObservationContext | ContextFramingRequirementsCanvas |