[Sigia-l] Questions about card sorting

[Todd Warfel]

Group vs. individual sorts...

Well, in our experience (ours as in my company, not including Donna), 
we've found that groups of three tend to provide the best results 
provided that you don't have one participant running the show. We've 
found that with one individual, you can run into problems with items 
that might not be all that clear (e.g. the content isn't in their area 
of expertise, the title takes on a different meaning, a larger stack of 
cards can seem overwhelming for one).

With a group of three participants, the participants tend to be more 
comfortable from the beginning, even if they don't know each other. 
There's something about not being the only one in the exercise I think 
that helps. Also, the "one man running the show" tends to go away. At 
times, there may be some disagreement among the group, but the 
two-to-one democracy clears that up. Also, if something's not clear to 
one person, there are additional people to help them figure it out. And 
finally, even larger stacks of cards (the largest we've performed was 
over 220 cards) are less overwhelming when you have the group to "help" 
out vs. an individual.

Having done this a couple hundred times, with a combination of singles 
and groups, we tend to stick to groups whenever possible. Not only is 
the dynamic better, but the results seem to be better - fewer outliers.

On Oct 18, 2004, at 5:48 PM, Barford, Patricia wrote:

> A great piece and the one that prompted my questions. I was left
> wondering what would be the best choices for my situation. I'm still
> curious as to the pros and cons of group vs. individual sorts.

Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
Partner, Design and Usability Specialist
MessageFirst | making products easier to use
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