View methods side by side.
Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.
| Criterion |  UX Research Diary Study |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Product Strategy Impact Mapping |  Business Strategy Scenario Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | Scenario Planning opens the view to several plausible futures instead of a single forecast. The method protects strategies from depending on too narrow an expected path. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 1-3 Wochen | 45-90 min | 0.5-2 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 3-8 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Impact Map, Outcome Hypotheses, Delivery Options | Scenario Set, Strategic Implications, Robust Options |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | UX researchObservationContext | OutcomesStrategyBehaviorPlanning | StrategyUncertaintyPlanning |