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| Criterion |  Decision Making Risk Matrix |  UX Research User Interviews |  UX Research Empathy Mapping |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List. | When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible. | 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. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-60 min | 30–60 min per interview | 30–60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 1 participant per interview | 4-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Risk Matrix, Top Risk List | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |