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| Criterion |  UX Research Diary Study |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Product Discovery Outcome-Driven Innovation |  UX Research Tree Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | Outcome-Driven Innovation clarifies customer problems, solution opportunities, and evidence. It separates jobs, desired outcomes, importance, satisfaction, and opportunity, and captures results as desired outcome statements, an opportunity landscape, and segments by underserved needs. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 20-45 min | Mehrere Wochen | 1-2 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | Based on research question | 2-6 researchers plus sample | Based on research question |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Desired outcome statements, Opportunity landscape, Segmentation by underserved needs, Innovation hypotheses | Findability Metrics, Path Analysis, Revised IA |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | Information architectureNavigationStructure | OutcomesInnovationResearchQuantitative | Information architectureNavigationFindability |