The participants were both experienced online users as well as digital tourists. For a widely used service like Eurostar it was necessary to include both groups. This way, card sorting not only helped figure out online labels, but also brought additional insights into possible user behavior patterns — clearly, the inexperienced users would need a lot of hand-holding and user support during their browsing sessions.
It turned that even the most prominent educational institutions in the USA were not able to avoid major classification and labeling mistakes. Take this example into consideration:. Outside of the website context, these labels may as well be described as the basics.
On this website, however, one can find specific categories concerning applications or academic experience. Seems logical? It is, but in many cases it is only after the card sorting test that these issues are uncovered.
The test proved that too many of the labels featured on Drupal. There is nothing wrong with offline card sorting. Quite the contrary — sitting down with your target user can bring many qualitative insights apart from the regular test results.
On the other hand, however, many online tools provide easier access to the right participants and allow for adding survey questions to gather extra knowledge. Here are a few major online tools available on the market:. Optimal Workshop : Online card sorting software for closed and open tests. An option of recruiting participants online plus variety of additional survey questions make it a very useful tool. UserZoom : This tool allows for both closed and open sorts. Recruitment panel available.
UsabilityTools : You can create card sorts along with survey questions, screenshot tests or scenario-based tests. Attractive data visualisations and recruitment panel included. Card sorting is a great method for websites that require a lot of categories and subcategories, like ecommerces, educational sites or news services. It has a proven track record of helping user experience designers and developers understand how users make sense of their web content.
In an open card sort, give the participant a stack of different colored cards. Ask the participant to use the colored card to name each group. Ask what words the participant would expect to see on the homepage or second-level page that would lead the participant to that particular group of content items.
In a closed card sort, asking about word expectations, their final card organization, and other follow up questions can provide valuable insight and observations for your research. At the end, thank the participant and give the payment or other gift if promised. Remote sorting sessions Create your list of content topics. Topics can be phrases, words, etc.
It might be tempting to have a card for every topic on your site, but in this case, more might not be better. Consider the cognitive load on the participant. You want them to be as on task for your first card as your last. Prepare the cards according to the software instructions. Email your participants a link to the study. Provide instructions for the sort whether open or closed and let them know approximately how long the session should take to complete.
If a comment box is available, urge participants to use the field to record any observations or questions. While you will not be able to answer them in real time for the participant, these comments can be useful for your analysis.
Thank the participant for his or her time and provide instructions for receiving payment or other gift if promised. Analyze Your Data Prepare your data for analysis. If you used online card-sorting software, consult the software instructions. The software will analyze participant data in a variety of ways. If you used physical cards for the test, either photograph the sort or use the numbers on the cards to quickly record what the participant did.
Photograph or write down the names the participant gave to each grouping and the numbers of the cards the participant included under that name. Then you can reshuffle the cards for the next session. Create a computer file for each session to gather a complete picture of the detailed site map each user creates. Work from your original list of topics and move topics around to recreate each participant's groupings and enter that participant's name for the groupings.
If you used a physical card sort, you can also take a photograph of the finished card sort for reference later. Analyze qualitative information based on user comments. Analyze quantitative information based on: Which cards appeared together most often How often cards appeared in specific categories For a less detailed analysis of the results, use your notes and recordings of the participants' names and card numbers under each person's name to find commonalities from different sessions.
For a more detailed analysis, consider using an Excel spreadsheet to show the relationship between the cards or use one of the available software programs to analyze your data. For example, you can apply it for search filters in the eCommerce app. Instead, UX researchers recommend using tree testing because this technique is more suitable for evaluating navigation categories.
As the name suggests, this type of card sorting where participants sort cards into predefined categories but also can create their categories. Hybrid card sort works the best when researchers want to generate ideas for grouping information, and they know that they have some missing categories in their current category structure.
They can gain insights about missing categories, and this information can inform design decisions. Unmoderated card sorting involves participants organizing content into groups on their own. The major downside of this method is the amount of work required to analyze the session results it can be hard to understand the rationale behind the decisions. Moderated card sorting requires having a moderator.
This type of card sorting can provide more valuable insights because the moderator can also debrief the user—ask users to explain the rationale behind the groups they created. This type of card sorting is more expensive and might require an additional budget. In paper card sorting, topics that are written on sticky notes.
The low learning curve is a significant advantage of this type of sorting. But might not be the best option for participants because they will need to learn how to use the tool, and also the tool can limit their actions it can prevent them from creating categories, or making a specific grouping. What should you put on cards? Test cards with your audience to ensure that participants understand the meaning of information on a card and cards are groupable. Inconsistent and unrelated cards will prevent users from creating coherent groups.
When you select topics for your card sorting session, aim for something in between 30 and 60 cards. Definition: Card sorting is a UX research method in which study participants group individual labels written on notecards according to criteria that make sense to them. Your company offers around 60 vehicle models that customers can choose from.
How would you organize those vehicles into categories that people can browse to quickly find their ideal car rental?
Your company might use technical terms such as family car , executive car , and full - size luxury car. But your users might have no idea of the difference between some of those categories. This is where card sorting can help: ask your users to organize vehicles into groups that make sense to them, and, then, see what patterns emerge. Variations in card sorting involve whether or not users can create their own category names, whether a facilitator moderates the session, and whether the study is conducted with paper or a digital tool.
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