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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research Diary Study | ![]() UX Research Empathy Mapping | ![]() UX Research Contextual Inquiry | ![]() Facilitation Consensus Workshop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 30–60 min | 1-3 Wochen | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 4-8 | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 5-30 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop | UX researchObservationContext | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment |



