[Sigia-l] card sorting

[Boniface Lau]

> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On
> Behalf Of Todd R.Warfel
> 
> On Monday, June 2, 2003, at 07:48 PM, Boniface Lau wrote:
> 
> > Regarding your usages of the name "content inventory card sort" in
> > this discussion, they have been inconsistent. Here are the various
> > forms that you have used:
> >
> > * "content inventory (card) sort"
> > * "(content inventory) card sort"
> > * "content inventory card sort"
> 
> You're being nit-picky here, Boniface. 

Not at all. I tried to find out what significance those
shifting/disappearing brackets might have from your perspective.


[...]
> 
> > Despite your justification claiming that "card sorts are typically
> > done on a content inventory", your own paper on card sort makes
> > absolutely no mention of content inventory. That suggested that it
> > is not that "typical" even by your very own experience.
> 
> Hardly. Many of us have asked about your experience, yet you have yet 
> to reply. 

I have no intention of substituting people's experience for their
argument's validity. So, I do not raise question on people's
experience. And I do not entertain such question.

Regardless of a person's claim on experience/education, the real stuff
comes across when substantiating argument.


[...]
> 
> > Your paper said:
> >
> > MO> Once the cards are shuffled, the participants are asked to
> > MO> sort the items into like groups.
> >
> > But there is nothing about how the participants are supposed to
> > "sort the items into like groups" - which is the focus of this
> > discussion.
> 
> That's just it. It's not that complicated of an exercise. In the
> hundreds of times I've done card sorts, I've never once had to give
> a great deal of instruction beyond "your task is to sort the stack
> of cards into like groups, which make sense to you. Once you are
> satisfied with the group, you should give that group a label that
> would make sense to you."

Mind you, this discussion is NOT about instruction. It is about
observing order when sorting items into groups.

I have even walked you through a process to demonstrate that you need
to observe order to sort items into groups. See:

http://www.info-arch.org/hypermail/sigia-l/0306/0006print.html

But you disagreed by claiming that in your way of sorting items into
groups, there is no need to observe order. When I asked you for the
specifics, you referred me to your paper. When I followed up by
looking into your paper, I found nothing on your way of sorting items
into groups.

So, to substantiate your claim, please walk us through your process of
sorting items into groups to demonstrate that there is indeed no need
to observe order.


Boniface