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| Criterion |  UX Research Diary Study |  UX Research Empathy Mapping |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |
|---|---|---|---|
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 a lot is assumed about a target group but little is seen jointly, empathy mapping makes knowledge and gaps directly comparable. The picture also shows which assumptions hold up and where evidence is missing. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 30–60 min | 1-3 Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 4-8 | 4-12 Beobachtungen |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop | UX researchObservationContext |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
