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| Criterion |  UX Research User Interviews |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Decision Making Pareto Analysis |  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. | 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. | In many problem situations, effect is distributed unequally across many causes. A Pareto Analysis separates the few drivers with high leverage from the long remainder and focuses attention on what measurably moves the needle. | 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 | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 1-4 h | 30-60 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 3-8 | 1-6 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Pareto Chart, Top Causes, Focus List | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | PrioritizationQualityFocusRoot cause | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |