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Criterion
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Gemba Walk workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
Gemba Walk
Paper illustration for Kepner-Tregoe
Operations
Kepner-Tregoe
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.When there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions.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.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
LowLowHighLow
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interview30-120 min2-8 h45–90 min
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interview2-62-83-10
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryObservation Notes, Improvement IdeasProblem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk PlanTheme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
LeanObservationProcessOperations
Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations
SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause
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