[Sigia-l] Card sorting - do not like but what else is there?

[Tania]

>
>
>Quoting from
>http://maadmob.net/donna/blog/archives/000248.html :
>
>	"I recently came to the conclusion that I don't like card
>	 sorting as a technique for determining an information
>	 structure. I'm only now starting to realise why."
>
>	"I have noticed that participants don't really look
>	 at the cards and try to form sensible groups
>	 ...Instead, they try to get rid of most of the cards
>	 as quickly as possible..."
>
Having done quite a bit of card sorting recently I am inclined to agree 
with Donna.  I think that the congnitive processes and decisions used to 
sort cards are different to those used when navigating on a website.   
For instance, despite being very careful with wording on cards (to not 
lead test participants to particular groupings) I have found in a recent 
project that participants often sort by user group (even if the user 
group is not written on the cards) yet when they are navigating a 
website, they tend to be more topic or task focussed (a general "no no" 
in my book).  

We recently developed an IA as a result of card sorting with over 20 
users.  The results showed a fairly consistent pattern which actually 
mixed user groups "For businesses" and topics "Apprenticeships" within 
the IA.   However, when we later tested the IA using scenarios, all the 
business participants went to the "Apprenticeships" section (presented 
at the end of the mnu)  for information about apprenticeships for 
businesses (as I suspect it was more closely aligned with their specific 
goal) instead of going to the "For Businesses" section  which had 
employer specific information about apprenticships and was presented 
before the other option in the menu.   It was interesting that business 
test participants actually sorted the information one way but then went 
to the wrong area when we tested the IA they effectively came up with.

Having said that, I still use card sorting for lack of an alternative 
apporach at least it provides some insight into users' mental model.  I 
would be interested to know of any alternative approaches.

Tania Lang
Peak Usability
Brisbane, Australia