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| Criterion |  UX Research Diary Study |  Operations 5 Whys |  Product Strategy Impact Mapping |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. | When a goal needs to be connected to several possible paths, it shows chains of impact instead of feature lists. It connects business goal, behavior change, and measures. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 15-30 min | 45-90 min | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 2-6 | 3-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Impact Map, Outcome Hypotheses, Delivery Options | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | OutcomesStrategyBehaviorPlanning | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |