methodatlas
Compare

View methods side by side.

Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.

Criterion
Paper illustration for Contextual Inquiry.
UX Research
Contextual Inquiry
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Paper illustration of RAID Log with a method-specific labelled workspace.
Delivery
RAID Log
Paper illustration for Diary Study.
UX Research
Diary Study
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.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.Helps clarify scope, sequence, and delivery flow in concrete terms. It makes work, boundaries, and order steerable. The result is captured as a RAID Log and a source for status reporting.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.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumLowMedium
Timedifferent
1-3 Wochen3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional30 min Setup, dann laufend1-4 Wochen
Participantsdifferent
4-12 Beobachtungen1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people1-3 maintaining, briefing for everyone5-20
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncAsyncAsync
Outputdifferent
Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain PointsLean 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 checksRAID Log, Status Report SourceDiary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline
Tagsno overlap
UX researchObservationContext
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
RiskTrackingStakeholdersGovernance
UX researchTrackingBehavior
Add more methods