Process
How to run a card sort study in six steps
A six-step plan for a card sort study, from defining the research questions and choosing 30 to 100 cards to setting the sample size, analyzing the similarity matrix and dendrogram, and following up with interviews. It is for UX researchers and designers working on navigation or taxonomy. Keep it next to you while you plan the study. Koji runs the follow-up interviews and groups the reasons into themes.
Where this appears
What's in this process
- Define the research questions: Name the decision the study has to inform, such as what users call a concept.
- Select your cards: Aim for 30 to 100 clear labels in your users' words, with no internal jargon.
- Choose a moderation style: Run unmoderated sorts for patterns, then 3 to 5 moderated sessions for the reasons.
- Set the sample size: 15 to 30 people for open sorts, 20 to 50 for closed sorts and 15 to 20 per segment.
- Analyze the results: Read the similarity matrix, the dendrogram, category agreement and the labels people wrote.
- Follow up with interviews: Ask why people split a topic or made a catch-all group.
Use this image
Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/how-to-run-a-card-sort-study-six-steps"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/how-to-run-a-card-sort-study-six-steps/how-to-run-a-card-sort-study-six-steps.png" alt="Process showing six steps of a card sort study: research questions, cards, moderation style, sample size, analysis and follow-up interviews." width="1080" height="1080" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/how-to-run-a-card-sort-study-six-steps">How to run a card sort study in six steps</a>, Koji</p>
