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| Criterion |  UX Research Diary Study |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Operations 5 Whys |  Operations 8D Problem Solving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 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. | 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. | For an acute quality or delivery problem, the method structures immediate protection and root cause work together. It keeps the situation stable while the actual cause is investigated cleanly. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 1-3 Wochen | 15-30 min | 1-6 Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 2-6 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | 8D Report, Containment Plan, Root Cause Evidence, Corrective Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | UX researchObservationContext | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | QualityProblem solvingRoot cause |