Card sorting: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:26, 27 April 2016

Revision as of 00:07, 6 May 2016

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{{Distinguish|Card sorter}}

'''Card sorting''' is a simple technique in [[user experience design]] wherein which a person tests 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 [[information architecture]], workflows, menu structure, or web site navigation paths.

Card sorting has a characteristically low-tech approach. The conceptsperson areconducting the test (usability analyst, user experience designer, etc.) first identifiedidentifes key concepts and writtenwrites ontothem on simple [[index card]]s or [[Post-it note]]s. TheTest usersubjects, individually or sometimes as a group, then arrangesarrange thesethe cards to represent thehow groupsthey orsee structuresthe theystructure areand familiarrelationships of the withinformation.<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

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|date=May 1995}}</ref>

Groups may eithercan 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

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}}</ref>

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

|url=http://boxesandarrows.com/card-sorting-a-definitive-guide/

|title=Card sorting: a definitive guide

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|isbn=978-0-596-52030-4

|publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]]

}}</ref> In that context, the items to be organizedorganize are those that are significant in the environment. The way that the items are organized should make sense to the target audience and cannot be determined from [[first principles]].

The field of [[information architecture]] is founded uponon the study of the structure of information. If an accepted and standardized [[Taxonomy (general)|taxonomy]] exists for a subject, it would be natural to simply apply that taxonomy asto a means of organizingorganize both the information in the environment, and any navigation to particular subjects or functions. Card sorting is applieduseful when:

* The variety in theof items to be organizedorganize is so great that no existing taxonomy is accepted as organizing the items.

* The similaritiesSimilarities among the items make them difficult to divide clearly into categories.

* Members of the audience that uses the environment may differ significantly in how they view the similarities among items and the appropriate groupings of items.

== Basic method ==

To perform a card sort:

# A person representative of the audience is givenreceives a set of index cards with terms already written on them.

# This person putsgroups the terms intoin logicalwhatever groupingsway they think is logical, and findsgives each group a category name, foreither eachfrom an existing card or by writing a name on a blank groupingcard.

# ThisTesters processrepeat isthis repeatedprocess across a populationgroup of test subjects.

# The results aretesters later analyzedanalyze the results to revealdiscover patterns.

==Variants==

=== Open card sorting ===

In an '''open card sort''', participants create their own names for the categories. This helps reveal not only how they mentally classify the cards, but also what terms they use for the categories. Open sorting is '''generative'''; it is typically used to discover patterns in how participants classify, which in turn helps generate ideas for organizing information.

This helps reveal not only how they mentally classify the cards, but also what terms they use for the categories.

Open sorting is '''generative'''; it is typically used to discover patterns in how participants classify, which in turn helps generate ideas for organizing information.

=== Closed card sorting ===

In a '''closed card sort''', participants are provided with a predetermined set of category names. They then assign the index cards to these fixed categories. This helps reveal the degree to which the participants agree on which cards belong under each category. Closed sorting is '''evaluative'''; it is typically used to judge whether a given set of category names provides an effective way to organize a given collection of content.

This helps reveal the degree to which the participants agree on which cards belong under each category.

Closed sorting is '''evaluative'''; it is typically used to judge whether a given set of category names provides an effective way to organize a given collection of content.

=== Reverse card sorting ===

In a '''reverse card sort''' (more popularly called [[tree testing]]), an existing structure of categories and sub-categories is tested. Users are given tasks and are asked to complete them navigating a collection of cards. Each card contains the names of subcategories related to a category, and the user should find the card most relevant to the given task starting from the main card with the top-level categories. This ensures that the structure is evaluated in isolation, nullifying the effects of navigational aids, visual design, and other factors. Reverse card sorting is '''evaluative'''—it judges whether a predetermined hierarchy provides a good way to find information.

Reverse card sorting is '''evaluative'''; it is used to judge whether a predetermined hierarchy provides a good way to find information.

==Analysis==

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== Online (remote) card sorting ==

There are aA number of web-based tools are available to perform card sorting activities with survey participants via the internet. The perceived advantage of remoteweb-based card sorting is that it allowsreaches a larger group of participants to be reached at a lower cost. The software can also assisthelp inanalyze the process of analyzing card sort results. TheA perceived advantagesdisadvantage of a remote card sort must be traded off againstis the lack of personal interaction between card sort participants and the card sort administrator, which may produce valuable insights.

== References ==