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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research Diary Study | ![]() UX Research Contextual Inquiry | ![]() Operations MORT Analysis | ![]() Operations Barrier Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 safety-relevant event or a system with high protection requirements, the method examines where controls failed. It exposes both technical and organizational gaps. | For a risk that can only be managed through multiple layers of protection, the method examines the effectiveness of each barrier. It shows where safeguards are missing, too weak, or fail under real conditions. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 1-3 Wochen | Mehrere Tage bis Wochen | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 2-6 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | MORT Worksheets, Findings per Branch, Corrective Actions, Systemic Recommendations | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | UX researchObservationContext | Root causeSafetySystemicIncident | Root causeSafetyIncident |



