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| Criterion |  UX Research User Interviews |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 an event with a complicated course, the method breaks down the contributing factors along the timeline. It shows how conditions, decisions, and reactions together produce a course of events. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 2-6 h | 2-6 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 3-10 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |