Card Sorting

Alfred KobsaUniversity of California, Irvine

Card sorting

• Each card shows one concept (which come from user studies or directly from designers)

• Participants are asked to order cards hierarchically and to come up with category names (possibly let them think aloud, to capture their rationales)

• Performed individually or in a small group. Also over the Internet• Variants:

• Category names are pre-defined (closed set or user-extensible)• Freelisting: users produce all card concepts falling under a category

• Number of cards: 60-70 maximum• Number of studies: start with 5-6, add some more, and stop when there

seems convergence in the results. Otherwise add more studies, specifically if there are different user types (no more than 30 total).

• Software available (with consolidation across participants)E.g., websort.net = OptimalSort

Card sorting can be used to understand users’ conceptual models of an interface or information structure

Result: “Dendrogram”

Result: “Dendrogram”