[Sigia-l] card sorting

[Todd R.Warfel]

On Sunday, June 1, 2003, at 10:22 PM, Boniface Lau wrote:

> However, observing the order among groups, regardless of how easy it
> is, is still required for successful grouping.

You previously stated that by "order" you meant "sequence" (see below). 
And here you're stating that in your opinion, without that sequential 
order, the groups are not valid. I'm curious as to what experience you 
base this on, as it's quite different from my own and other industry 
experts' teachings (e.g. IDEO, IBM, Xerox, Cooper).

>> The participants observe piles, but not an order in the sense of a
>> traditional order (e.g. sequence).
>
> I don't know what you are trying to say. Please elaborate.

If you've ever done a (content inventory) card sort, then you would 
know that the participants will often create the "groups" as piles. 
They simply stack, or pile, the content for one group into a stack, or 
pile. They typically do not put them in sequential order as you've 
suggested. I had assumed that you had done a (content inventory) card 
sort in the past. Perhaps I was mistaken?

> What do you mean by "sequential order"?

Quoting your previous response:

>> Do you mean 'order' as in 'chaos', or as in 'sequence'?
>
> I mean sequence.

A sequence by definition is one after the other, an order. This does 
not apply as a requirement for a successful card sort in traditional IA 
(a content inventory card sort).

> This thread has been about card sort. Now you mention "inventory card
> sort". I assume it is a type of card sort. May be you can tell us how
> you do "inventory card sort".

I've maintained the same position during this thread - card sorts in 
the context of IA. And in the context of IA, card sorts are typically 
done on a content inventory. So, to clarify I've used the term "content 
inventory card sort." If you'd like to find out more about it, you can 
find out more of the details in this paper: Modeling Organization - 
Methods for Increasing a System's Findability 
http://messagefirst.com/downloads/ModelingOrganization.pdf .

Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel

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