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| Criterion |  UX Research Diary Study |  Operations Family Tree Analysis |  Systems Thinking Behavior Over Time Graph |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | For a series of incidents with a similar pattern, the method arranges individual events as branches of a common origin. It makes visible which conditions keep 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. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 2-4 h | 20-45 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 5-20 | 2-6 | 1-10 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience Timeline | Family Tree Diagram, Pattern Notes, Systemic Measures | Behavior Over Time Graph, Trend Hypotheses, Key Events | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchTrackingBehavior | Root causePatternsIncidentSystemic | Systems thinkingPatternsDynamics | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |