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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |  Operations Barrier 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. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 2-6 h | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | Root causeSafetyIncident |
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