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Selected:SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)First-click TestingCard SortingARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
| Criterion |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  UX Research First-click Testing |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning. | When users immediately turn the wrong way on a screen or wireframe, first click testing checks initial orientation at high speed. The first click shows early whether expectation, labeling, and wayfinding fit together. | When content only makes sense internally and users can't find the structure again, card sorting exposes their mental order. Terms, groups, and naming are then aligned with the target group's expectations. | ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 1-2 Tage | 20-45 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 10-30 | Based on research question | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Domain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives | Click Heatmap, Success Rate, Design Recommendations | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | UXNavigationFindabilityValidation | Information architectureNavigationStructure | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |