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| Criterion |  Facilitation Consensus Workshop |  UX Research Affinity Diagramming |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  UX Research Empathy Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. | When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 45–90 min | 45-120 min | 30–60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 5-30 | 3-10 | 2-8 | 4-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps |
Tagsno overlap | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop |