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| Criterion |  UX Research User Interviews |  Operations Fault Tree Analysis |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  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. | For a critical top event with several possible triggers, the method logically models failure paths. It makes visible which combinations of conditions can lead to damage. | When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers. | 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 | Low | High | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 2-6 h | 30-60 min | 45–90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 3-8 | 2-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Fault Tree, Critical Paths, Cause Hypotheses, Control Actions | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | RiskRoot causeSafety | Root causeQualityOperations | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause |