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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  UX Research Diary Study |  Facilitation Six Thinking Hats |
|---|---|---|---|
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. | When a topic gets stuck too quickly in the same thinking mode, Six Thinking Hats deliberately separates the perspectives. This means facts, risks, creativity, and emotional signals get worked through one after another instead of mixed together. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 1-4 Wochen | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 5-20 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Perspective Notes, Decision Inputs, Action Items |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | UX researchTrackingBehavior | FacilitationOptionsDecision |
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