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| Criterion |  UX Research Diary Study |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Systems Thinking Iceberg Model |  Systems Thinking Behavior Over Time Graph |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | The Iceberg Model separates visible events from patterns, structures, and mental models. This turns a single observation into a deeper understanding of why a problem keeps recurring. | A Behavior Over Time Graph shows how a metric or observation develops over time. The method makes trends, breaks, and recurring patterns visible that get lost in snapshots. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 1-3 Wochen | 30-60 min | 20-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 2-10 | 1-10 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Iceberg Worksheet, Pattern Notes, Intervention Ideas | Behavior Over Time Graph, Trend Hypotheses, Key Events |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | UX researchObservationContext | Systems thinkingRoot causePatterns | Systems thinkingPatternsDynamics |