Download - UXPA Boston Card Sorting
IA Issues? Online Card Sorting is Not Enough.
Andrew Schall, Principal ResearcherKey Lime Interactive
Principal Researcher & Sr. Director, Key Lime Interactive
Past President, UXPA Washington DC
Co-author, Eye Tracking in User Experience Design
Andrew Schall
Founder & President, UXPA South Florida
What’s covered in the next 45 minutes Why card sorting? Online card sorting: The good, bad, & ugly In person card sorting: Going old school Hybrid card sorting method: The best of both worlds Q & A
A super quick review of card sorting
Understanding how your users think about the organization of content
If your users can’t find the information that they are seeking, it might as well not be there at all.
The card sorting research methodCard sorting is a technique that can help gain insights into how your users think about the organization of your content. This user research method can be performed using an online tool or in person using physical cards.
Need to learn more about card sorting? Read this book:
What we learn from card sorting Which items participants think should be grouped together What to call each collection of grouped items How many categories participants think the items should be
grouped into
Online Card Sorting
Moving from physical to digital
Easy methods to recruit participants
Convenient method for capturing data
Automated data aggregation and visualization
The benefits of online card sorting
Online card sorting has become a very convenient and common way to collect this information from users.
Recruit 24/7 – participants can complete the activity on their schedule from anywhere.
Fast and easy data collection – card sort software is relatively easy to use and straightforward for most participants.
Large sample size – it is easy to quickly obtain a large sample size for statistical analysis.
Who you think your participant is
Who your participant really is
Online card sorting tells you what, but not whyCollecting data on how your users sort items into categories tells you what they did, but not why they did it.
Quantitative results can be inconclusive
Online survey to the rescue!
Quotes from actual study participants
“It’s good” “Fine” “Clear” ”No questions” “Confusing” “Didn’t understand some of the cards” “I didn’t know what was meant by _______” “I wasn’t sure where to put the _____ card” “Activity took WAY too long!” “I’m not getting paid enough to do this.”
Less than helpful qualitative responses
In Person Card Sorting
Old school card sorting
In person card sorting method
Typically scheduled for an hour and are conducted one-on-one with a facilitator.
Sessions are typically recorded with an overhead camera capturing the table with the cards.
Participants are provided with physical materials that include: Cards labeled with the name of each item to be sorted Pens or markers for making notes Sometimes color-coded stickers for further annotations such as
priority/importance
Physical cards are intuitive
More flexibility
Higher engagement
Benefits of in person card sorting
Understand participant’s thought process – Think aloud protocol can be used to have the participant explain why they are sorting cards in a certain way.
Observe nonverbal responses – Do they appear deep in thought, confused or frustrated? Do they visibly hesitate to place a card or create a label for a category?
Provide motivation – Card sorting is a laborious and mentally demanding task. Participants often lose motivation to complete the activity. The facilitator can provide encouragement to the participant to keep going.
Scheduling logistics
Lots of manual data entry
Hybrid Card Sorting
A hybrid approach
Start with an online open card sort study to see general trends in how users sort items and for a higher sample size
Follow up with an in-person study with a smaller sample size to understand participants’ thought process including insights into how they would use the content.
Don’t forget to iterate! Card sorting (or tree testing) should be done to validate any changes that you make to your IA.
Good research means asking the right questions
What does this mean to you?
Asking about the meaning of cards and categories (if closed) Suggestions for improving labels
How is this relevant to you?
Asking about the relative importance of content items Context of use – In what situations would they need to access this
information, and how often?
Why would you group these together?
Inquire about thought process of how items are related to each other Sensing level of uncertainty, confusion or frustration
In summary
Don’t exclusively rely on online card sorting for your IA research needs! Use the power of think aloud to learn from your card sort participants. Consider a hybrid approach to gain the benefits of both
online/unmoderated and in person/moderated card sorting. Don’t forget to iterate. You should validate the changes that you make
to an IA based on card sorting results.