A closed card sort is a type of card sorting activity in which participants are to sort the given topics into a pre-defined set of categories. Closed card sorts are typically used when researchers are trying to improve an already existing information architecture.

University of California, Berkeley

A Card Sort is used to understand how people think information within a website should be organized and named. It is often used to create or design an information architecture. 

- In a typical card sorting session, participants group the given topics into categories that make sense to them. 
- Users may also make changes to the cards you provided them by: removing a card they find unnecessary, creating a new card, renaming a card, changing the definition of a given card, and/or placing cards they feel belong that to multiple categories. 
- This can be carried out using sticky notes, paper cards, or a card sorting software.


Card Sorting in UX Research

Baxter, K., Courage, C., & Caine, K. (2015). Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Research Methods. Elsevier.

Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Research Methods

An open card sort is a type of card sorting activity in which participants are given the freedom to create as many topics and categories as they want and name them in a way that makes most sense to them. 

Open Card Sort

Closed Card Sort

Some of the methods to analyze data from a card sorting activity includes: simple summary, factor analysis, multidimensional scaling, and path analysis. These methods will help us understand how similar items/topics are with each other in order to determine which items UX researchers should add or remove from a group so that it would be more useful for the users.

Data Analysis and Interpretation for Card Sorting

An information architecture is a combination of labeling content, organizing them into categories, and creating task processes in a way that is easy for the user to understand and accomplish their goal(s).

Learn Before

Related