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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  UX Research Tree Testing |  UX Research Diary Study |  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 a navigation exists but search paths still fail, tree testing checks findability without visual distraction. The method shows whether labels, levels, and paths really lead to the intended destination. | 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 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 | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 1-2 Tage | 1-4 Wochen | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | Based on research question | 5-20 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Findability Metrics, Path Analysis, Revised IA | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Context canvas, Open questions, Shared context notes |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | Information architectureNavigationFindability | UX researchTrackingBehavior | ContextFramingRequirementsCanvas |