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How to Create an Online Card Sorting Study to

Optimize Information Architecture

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How to Create an Online Card Sorting Study to Optimize Information Architecture

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How to Create an Online Card Sorting Study to Optimize Information Architecture

Sneha Kanneganti

UX Researcher

UserZoom

speaker

Meet Your Speaker

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Agenda – How to set up a usability study in UserZoom

Continue the discussion using #LearnRemoteUX

About Card Sorting UserZoom CS

ExperienceResults & Analysis Questions

How to Create an Online Card Sorting Study to Optimize Information Architecture

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What is Card Sorting?

• Is a method used to understand the structure and relationships

between items.

• Affords empirical evidence on the the ideal scheme to present

information.

Card Sorting is best used when,

• Still forming a theory on a design

• Deciding the label categories and navigation structure

• Considering redesigns (used most often)

Helps inform decisions on

• How do participants categorize items?

• What do we call these categories?

• What’s the relationship between the items and

categories?

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• Participants sort the cards/items into pre-

determined categories.

• Used best when you are not likely to change

the existing main categories.

• Adding new content to the existing structure

Types of Card Sorting Methods

Open Card Sort Closed Card Sort

• Participants create and label their own

groups of items/cards.

• Helps you to understand how participants

think about information.

• Used best when still informing I/A structure

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• Gather 30 or more responses quickly

• Reach wider audiences distributed

geographically

• Great source for quantitative data

• Cost and time effective

• Easy analysis and reporting easier

Types of Card Sorting Methods

In - Person Remote

• 5 – 10 participants. Limited in scale.

• A lot of leg-work to capture participant sessions

as well as analyze results

• Not cost effective. Time intensive

• Gather qualitative feedback

• Collaborate with clients

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The UserZoom Experience

Participant Experience / Results in UserZoom

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How many completes/How many Items?

• 30 – 40 responses suffice to give you valid

data to start analysis. (Tullis, 2004)

• Identify problem areas.

• Identify tasks most often used by users.

• Stakeholders have a specific preference.

• Limit the number of cards to 30 – 40 especially an

open sort.

• Limit categories to a realistic representation of the

possible site structure.

Completes

Items

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Analysis

Dendrogram

• Represents the relationship between group of items.

• Greater the height of one “chunk,” the greater the difference.

• If 0, then always placed into one category,

• If 1, then never placed in the same category.

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Distance Matrix

• Distance Matrix is a pair-wise comparison of the items.

• Here, 0 represents, never being placed together, 1 as always being paired together.

• How frequently were items placed in the same group.

Analysis

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Data by Participant

• Helps you identify how many categories were used.

• How many people did the task most sincerely.

Analysis

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Frequency by Items

• Helps you identify how many categories were used.

• How many people did the task most sincerely.

Analysis

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Frequency by Category (Closed Card Sort only)

• It helps identify items most associated with a category.

• Results are displayed in descending or decreasing level of frequency.

Analysis

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Frequency by Item (Closed Card Sort only)

• Analyze data at the level of individual items and their likelihood of being associated with

each category.

• It shows the percentage of participants that associated an item with a category.

Analysis

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Combine with other study types.

Best Practices

Iterations. Test often.

Targeted Participant Profiles.

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How to Create an Online Card Sorting Study to Optimize Information Architecture

• Submit your email via a chat box to request a customized demo of

UserZoom

UserZoom Demo

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• Tuesday, December 9, 2014

• How to Create an Online Tree Testing Study to Optimize Information

Architecture

Register: http://info.userzoom.com/remoteux-tree-testing.html

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How to Create an Online Card Sorting Study to Optimize Information Architecture

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Questions

How to Create an Online Card Sorting Study to Optimize Information Architecture

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