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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research User Interviews | ![]() Operations Kepner-Tregoe | ![]() Operations Root Cause Analysis | ![]() Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 2-8 h | 1-4 h | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 2-8 | 3-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause |



