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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Operations Barrier Analysis |  Operations Root Cause Tree Analysis |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | For a risk that can only be managed through multiple layers of protection, the method examines the effectiveness of each barrier. It shows where safeguards are missing, too weak, or fail under real conditions. | For a problem with several suspected causes, the method builds a causal structure instead of a mere list. It makes visible how causes connect and where the strongest points of leverage lie. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 2-4 h | 1-3 h | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 2-6 | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog | Cause Tree, Evidence Notes, Countermeasures | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | Root causeSafetyIncident | Root causeTreeIncidentQuality | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |