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Criterion
Paper illustration for Diary Study.
UX Research
Diary Study
Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
Paper illustration for Root Cause Analysis.
Operations
Root Cause 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.With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects.When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another.
Complexitysame
MediumMediumMedium
Timedifferent
1-4 Wochen45-120 min1-4 h
Participantsdifferent
5-202-83-8
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience TimelineTrade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted DownsidesProblem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan
Tagsno overlap
UX researchTrackingBehavior
TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions
Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
Paper illustration of a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Paper illustration for Kepner-Tregoe
Operations
Kepner-Tregoe