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| Criterion |  Innovation Design Thinking |  UX Research Card Sorting |  UX Research Personas |  UX Research User Interviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For complex user problems with an uncertain cause, the method connects observation, interpretation, and experiment into a learning cycle. It keeps the focus on real needs and avoids premature solution language. This produces robust decisions for product and service. | When content only makes sense internally and users can't find the structure again, card sorting exposes their mental order. Terms, groups, and naming are then aligned with the target group's expectations. | When target groups stay too vague and teams talk about the same people differently, personas create a shared, solid picture of usage. Condensed profiles make needs, contexts, and differences tangible enough for decisions. | When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen | 20-45 min | 1-3 Tage | 30–60 min per interview |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | Based on research question | Internes Team | 1 participant per interview |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Prototype, Test Learnings | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Persona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario Notes | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary |
Tagsno overlap | InnovationPrototypeResearch | Information architectureNavigationStructure | ResearchCustomerSynthesis | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery |