Refining your Sitemap with Card Sorting

Question 1

What is a card sort?

Answer 1

A participatory design method used to evaluate ideas for the information architecture of a product or service.

Question 2

How do you conduct a card sorting session with a participant?

Answer 2

A participant is asked to organize content topics into categories that make the most sense.

Question 3

What does card sorting aim to do?

Answer 3

To find patterns that give clues about the most logical and user-friendly way to organize your website or application

Question 4

What are the two types of card sorting?

Answer 4

1. Open card sorting

2. Closed card sorting

Question 5

What is open card sorting?

Answer 5

Participants are asked to group website or product content into their own categories, then name these categories.

The names should be short but descriptive. You specifically refrain from giving users the category names. This allows your users to categorize the content themselves in the way they feel is most logical.

Question 6

What is closed card sorting?

Answer 6

Participants are asked to group website or product content into predefined categories.

Question 7

When is closed card sorting more useful than open card sorting?

Answer 7

When you already have predetermined categories and simply want to know how to organize your new content.
It can also be used to validate hypothesized categorization.

Question 8

What type of method is card sorting?

Answer 8

A participatory design method that helps facilitate user-centered input and supports other UX activities such as task analysis, content auditing, and heuristic evaluation.

Question 9

What are the pros of card sorting?

Answer 9

1. Affordable
2. Easy and quick to implement
3. Encourages user participation early on
   Sheds light on what a great site structure looks like

Question 10

What are the cons of card sorting?

Answer 10

1. Isolated from the user’s tasks
2. Results may be inconsistent
3. Analyzing the collected data may take a lot of time
4. May only catch “cursory” traits such as document type rather than site content or user journey.

Question 11

What should you always do before beginning your card sort?

Answer 11

Prep your testers on the length, process, and expectations of the card sort

Question 12

What’s the difference between an open card sort and a closed card sort?

Answer 12

In an open card sort, participants sort topics into piles and then label the piles themselves; in a closed card sort, participants sort topics into pre-labeled piles.

Question 13

The ultimate goal of card sorting is…

Answer 13

To see how your users interact with the information you’re considering for your app or site

Question 14

You have a great idea for a new site, “Bananas: The Other Other Yellow Fruit.” While you have a great many ideas for content you want to cover, you’re not so sure of the best way to organize it. What type of card sort would be best suited for this situation?

Answer 14

Open Card Sort

Question 15

. You’re performing a card sort for your new website “Pogo Yoga: Yoga with a Bounce.” You give your participants the categories “About Pogo Yoga,” “Pogo Yoga Health Benefits,” “Pogo Yoga Poses,” and “Pogo Yoga Classes,” and ask them to sort their pile of topics into these four categories. This is an example of what type of card sorting?

Answer 15

Closed Card Sort

Question 16

A card sort should ideally have how many topics and categories?

Answer 16

No more than thirty to forty

Question 17

Why would randomizing your cards be beneficial in a series of card sorts?

Answer 17

The order of the cards could create bias in how testers group them