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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  UX Research Diary Study |  Architecture LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
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 experiences build up over days or weeks and a single session cannot capture them, Diary Study records the course of everyday life. Recurring triggers, moods, and habits become visible this way, beyond the sharpness of memory. | LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 1-4 Wochen | 3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 5-20 | 1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Lean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checks |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | UX researchTrackingBehavior | ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
