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Criterion
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
A 5 Whys working surface connects an observable problem with evidenced causes, marked uncertainty and concrete countermeasures with ownership.
Operations
5 Whys
Paper illustration for Kepner-Tregoe
Operations
Kepner-Tregoe
Purposedifferent
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.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.For a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowHigh
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interview15-30 min2-8 h
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interview2-62-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryRoot cause notes, CountermeasuresProblem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving
Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations
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Often compared together

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

A3 Problem-Solving workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
A3 Problem Solving
Paper illustration for Root Cause Analysis.
Operations
Root Cause Analysis
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
Affinity Diagramming
UX Research
Affinity Diagramming