Analyzing Data from Card Sorting

Dancing with the Cards: Quick-and-Dirty Analysis of Card-Sorting Data, Shanshan Ma, UXMatters (Sept 20)

Card sorting can be a good way to learn from users how they group information - to get their perspective on organizing content. It is often used as a step in building a navigational taxonomy. This article describes two types of card sorting: open and closed.

But it does have its challenges. Invariably each person will have a different take on how things should be sorted and the labels to be attached. This article introduces wasy of analyzing the data to see the patterns.

"Card sorting is a great method of understanding users’ interpretations of a Web site’s structure. Through my experiences using card sorting, I have recognized that there are several challenges with using the method—in particular with data analysis and the presentation of results. To address these challenges, my colleagues and I have employed spreadsheets to visually represent card-sorting data and present the results of studies to clients, and we have received positive feedback from them. My experiences have also demonstrated that gathering additional insights from card-sort participants through questionnaires and providing more context for participants add value to the method. User research practitioners should consider enriching the results of their card sorts by taking the approaches I’ve described".

User Testing with Card Sorting

Card Sorting: Pushing Users Beyond Terminology Matches, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox (Aug 24)

Card sorting can be used for user testing of navigation.

As we learn from this article, "Card sorting is often a good way to get initial insights into users' mental model of an information space, and in our project it did indeed generate good starting point for the IA. After the card-sorting study, we conducted several rounds of user testing of wireframes, further refining the structure and how the site presented it. All of this effort would have been wasted if we'd gotten data on users' keyword-matching skills rather than on how they approach the site's target healthcare issues. "

Has worked examples.

Card Sorting with Users

Holger Maassen has the inside track on card sorting. In this posting on Card Sorting Maassen describes using card sorting as a categorization technique with user groups in order to learn more about how they view and work with information.

"Card sorting is a categorization technique where users sort cards describing and giving their picture, their understanding and their mental picture of concepts, workflows and information and knowledge."

But, he notes, card sorting will not deliver a finished taxonomy.

He presented this as the first of a series on design and analysis techniques for improving user experience.

Card Sorting for Categories

All About Card Sorting: An Interview with Donna Spencer by Steve Baty, UX Matters (May 25)

From the introduction to the interview transcript:

"Donna Spencer is one of Australia’s best-known information architects, organizer of the UX Australia conference, and a frequent presenter at UX conferences in Australia, the US, and Europe. I caught up with Donna between her appearances at the IA Summit and RedUX DC to talk about card sorting and her new book, Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories, which Rosenfeld Media recently published."

Card Sorting Challenges

Card Sorting: Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned By Sam Ng, UX Matters (Sept 10, 2007)

The author speaks from experience in this article about card sorting. It's a simple concept, deceptively so, and people may expect more than it can deliver.

"I’ve accepted the fact that card sort analysis—much like usability test analysis—is often messy and subjective. It’s part science, but mostly art. As with many aspects of our work, there isn’t necessarily a single correct, quantitative answer, but rather a number of different qualitative answers—all of which could be correct. Our job is to use our experience and our understanding of people to make judgment calls."

[Mentioned in InfoDesign: Understanding by Design ]