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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research Diary Study | ![]() UX Research Contextual Inquiry | ![]() Knowledge Modeling Concept Mapping | ![]() Decision Making Argument Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | Concept Mapping arranges terms and relationships in a network that makes subject-matter connections tangible. It fits when a topic needs to be understood structurally rather than linearly. | When statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 1-3 Wochen | 1-2 h | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 1-8 | 1-8 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Concept Map, Relationship Labels, Knowledge Gaps | Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | UX researchObservationContext | KnowledgeConceptsMappingSensemaking | SensemakingDecisionRationale |



