Card sorting: Difference between revisions

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'''Card sorting''' is a simple technique in usability design where a group of subject experts or "users", however inexperienced with design, are guided to generate a category tree or [[folksonomy]]. It is a useful approach for designing workflows, menu structure, or web site navigation paths.

{{context|date=April 2008}}

'''Card sorting''' is a suite of techniques used to determine simultaneously, for a set of items, an ensemble of categories that group the items, and also an appropriate set of inclusion relationships among the categories.

'''Card sorting''' has a characteristically low-tech approach. The concepts are first identified and written onto simple index cards or [[Post-it note]]s. The user group than arranges these to represent the groups or structures they are familiar with.<ref name="Nielsen 1995" >{{cite web

A card sort treats the names of the items as given. In an ''open card sort'', the participants who do the sorting are expected to provide their own names for the categories. In a ''closed card sort'', the participants are provided with a predetermined set of category names.

A card sort is commonly undertaken when designing a navigation structure for an environment that offers an interesting variety of content and functionality, such as a web site.<ref name="Nielsen 1995" >{{cite web

|title=Card Sorting to Discover the Users' Model of the Information Space

|url=http://www.useit.com/papers/sun/cardsort.html

|author=Jakob Nielsen

|date=May 1995

}}</ref>

}}</ref><ref name="Boxes and Arrows" >{{cite web

Groups may either be organised as collaborative groups ("focus groups") or as repeated individual sorts. The literature discusses appropriate numbers of users needed to produce trustworthy results. <ref name="Nielsen 2004" >{{cite web

|title=Card Sorting: How Many Users to Test

|url=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040719.html

|author=Jakob Nielsen

|date=[[July 19]], 2004

}}</ref>

A card sort treats the names of the items as given. In an ''open card sort'', the participants who do the sorting are expected to provide their own names for the categories. In a ''closed card sort'', the participants are provided with a predetermined set of category names.

A card sort is commonly undertaken when designing a navigation structure for an environment that offers an interesting variety of content and functionality, such as a web site.<ref name="NielsenBoxes 1995and Arrows" >{{cite web

|url=http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide

|title=Card sorting: a definitive guide

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|url=http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/cardsorting/content/bibliography/

|date=forthcoming in 2008

}}</ref>

}}</ref> <ref name="Nielsen 2004" >{{cite web

|title=Card Sorting: How Many Users to Test

|url=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040719.html

|author=Jakob Nielsen

|date=[[July 19]], 2004

}}</ref>

== References ==