What approach to requirements gathering focuses on user stories and direct input from users?

The approach that focuses on user stories and direct input from users is user-centered design. This method places a strong emphasis on understanding the users' needs, behaviors, and experiences. By collecting user stories, practitioners ensure that the requirements derived are grounded in actual user experiences and contexts. User-centered design often involves engaging users throughout the design process, soliciting their feedback, and iterating designs based on their input.

In this approach, the primary goal is to create solutions that are tailored to the end-users, making their experiences with the product or service more satisfying and effective. This technique is particularly valuable in environments where user experience is critical, as it leads to products that better align with user expectations and requirements.

The other choices, while relevant to requirements gathering, do not specifically emphasize user stories and direct user input to the same extent as user-centered design. Structured interviews might gather information, but they do not inherently focus on user stories. Participatory design engages users in the design process but might not always be structured around stories. Requirements workshops bring stakeholders together to gather information but may not prioritize individual user experiences in the same way.