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| Criterion |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  UX Research User Interviews |  UX Research Affinity Diagramming |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 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 research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-120 min | 30–60 min per interview | 45–90 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1 participant per interview | 3-10 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tagsno overlap | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |