[Sigia-l] validating an IA?

[Eric Scheid]

On 26/3/06 6:30 PM, "Eric Scheid" <eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au> wrote:

> closed card sort

Some don't like closed card sorts...

    http://tinyurl.com/pc49z

>   Recently I had cause to use a closed card sorting with the
>   objective of Œvalidating¹ a proposed Information Architecture
>   model (and some labelling). Argh. I think I will do what I can
>   to avoid that approach in the future.

>   And while I¹m at it - what are your thoughts on card sorting
>   for IA validation?
>
>   Ah! and one more. Comparative testing. Does anyone have war stories
>   on testing two distinctly different IA models? How did that go? Did
>   you test the two models on all of your users, or have two groups of
>   users and test one on each?

Good questions, particularly since I've seen two recent RFPs where
"validating an IA" was a key activity/requirement. Are you finding that
clients are asking for validation of IA designs more and more? Is validation
the new ROI?

e.