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Criterion
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration for Current Reality Tree
Systems Thinking
Current Reality Tree
Affinity Diagramming
UX Research
Affinity Diagramming
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.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.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighLow
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interview2-6 h45–90 min
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interview3-83-10
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryCurrent Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention IdeasTheme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality
SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Theory of Constraints Thinking Process.
Systems Thinking
Theory of Constraints Thinking Process
Paper illustration for Causal Factor Analysis.
Operations
Causal Factor Analysis
Causal Loop Diagram workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Causal Loop Diagram