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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Product Discovery Context Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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 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 | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 20-45 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | Based on research question | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Context canvas, Open questions, Shared context notes |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | Information architectureNavigationStructure | ContextFramingRequirementsCanvas |
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