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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Knowledge Modeling Knowledge Mapping |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | Knowledge Mapping makes knowledge, gaps, and transfer paths visible across a field. It fits when expertise should not just exist but also be findable and transferable. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 45-90 min | 1-3 h | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 2-8 | 3-12 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Knowledge Map, Critical Knowledge Areas, Transfer Plan | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | KnowledgeMappingRisk | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |