[Sigia-l] card sorting by survey?

[Laura S. Quinn]

Right, sorry about the "nail down navigation" comment - it was simply
poorly phrased.  I couldn't agree with you more that it's not going to
design my site for me, but simply provide data that can help inform.

It's a good point about doing the sorts online at the user's desk - I
hadn't thought of that.

My understanding of the tools you mention is that people generally use
them with people in a one-on-one test environment - is this valid (I
haven't used them)?  Have you done tests where the participants all are
on their own to do it and submit/ send the results to you?  Are there
substantial disadvantages in this method as opposed to being with the
user either in person or on the phone - or is it just as good?

I've always done my card sorts in person, and just wondering if good
data can be achieved with users doing it completely on their own.

> Laura -
> 
> We've all been around the block on card sorting before, but here's my
take 
> on it.
> 
> I don't think you can "nail down navigation" by using card sorting.
What I 
> think you can use it for is:
> 
> - As an activity during a user research session to understand how the 
> people who will use the web site think about the information it will 
> provide access to.
> 
> - As input into your thinking about navigation and groupings of links.
> 
> - As a way of testing (using a reverse card sort) your high level 
> navigation choices
> 
> This is one of the basic misunderstandings about user research, usability 
> and participatory design. (IMHO), the activities are not intended to have 
> users design the site --- they are a way for you to gain better insights 
> into their terminology, mental models so that you can do your own
design work.
> Usability testing, card sorting - any technique that provides a tangible 
> activity is better that asking for their opinion. What you want is to see 
> what they do, not what they say they think they will do.
> 
> To your logistical question:
> 
> There are several acceptable online card sorting tools. I've used:
> 
>          EZSort (IBM) -
http://www-3.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/Publish/410
>          WebCat (NIST) - 
> http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/WebTools/WebCAT/overview.html
>          CardZort - http://condor.depaul.edu/~jtoro/cardzort/
>          WebSort -http://www.websort.net/
> 
> They all have some problems, but all basically work.  WebSort is
completely 
> online. CardZort has a nice open layout that lets users move things
around 
> fluidly and allows for both card titles and short descriptions.
> 
> If you are looking for large numbers, any of these remote tools will
solve 
> it. You might also use the online tools in a 1:1 session, and either
go to 
> your user's desk or invite them to yours, since you no longer need the 
> large table to work on. That way you could get both the data and the 
> benefit of the in-person session.
> 
> W.
> 
> 
> At 04:43 PM 10/24/2003 +0100, Laura S. Quinn wrote:
> >I've done some intial user interviews/ user testing, to get a sense for
> >what the users do, and how the intranet's currently being used.  I've
> >set a very high level direction for the redesign, and would like to move
> >on to a card sort to nail down navigation.  An open card sort (with
> >probably about 12- 15 users to get a resonable cross section of user
> >groups) seems important for the project - the current navigation is
> >crappy and the users seem to have substantially differing models of how
> >it should be organized.
> >
> >But my management is quite resistant - they're concerned about my time
> >and the logistics involved (in particular, there are enormous conference
> >room issues), and suggests  trying to collect similar data through some
> >kind of emailed task- perhaps an Excel spreadsheet with "cards" as a
> >list of fields, with directions that they should group them into columns
> >and label the groups (obviously, the clarity of the instructions would
> >be very important)?
> 
> 
> Whitney Quesenbery
> Whitney Interactive Design, LLC
> w. www.WQusability.com
> e. whitneyq at wqusability.com
> p. 908-638-5467
> 
> UPA  - www.usabilityprofessionals.org
> STC Usability SIG: www.stcsig.org/usability
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

Laura S. Quinn
Alder Consulting
718-208-8172
www.alderconsulting.com