How to Prepare for a Card Sort

Choosing Content

When selecting the content to be included in the card sort you should make every effort to choose a representative sample of the entire website, or section of the website you are testing.  While you are selecting a wide range of items, you will want to ensure that you include clusters of items which are similar to one another so that participants can form groups rather than just having a stack of disparate items.  While you can have up to 100 cards, or items, between 20-45 items is ideal.

• Start with the Site Map and choose a few items from each section you're testing
• Include both existing and future content
• Strive to keep at the same level of granularity when selecting items
• Avoid choosing existing labels or website "channels" as items

Choosing Participants

When recruiting participants to take the card sort, it is paramount that you select the end-users of your website for this task.  Although staff and decision-makers may want to participate, the point of the exercise is to determine user needs and get feedback from the "real people" who use your website.  You also want actual users of your website because they are going to have an understanding of the context of the items included in the sort, whereas others may not.  Take a look at the following list of website items and think about how you would categorize them:

• Backstage Pass to Iapetus: Video
• Phoenix Mars Lander: The Phoenix Mars Lander is headed for the Martian arctic.
• Two Missions to Study Clouds, Aerosols: CloudSat and CALIPSO will give us a unique view of Earth's atmosphere.
• The Vision for Space Exploration: Follow NASA as we explore: Earth, Moon, Mars and beyond.
• NASA Remains One of the Federal Government's Best Places to Work in 2007
• Expedition 16: Commander Peggy Whitson leads the Expedition 16 crew.
• Galileo: Journey to Jupiter.
• International Space Station: Learn about the next mission to the International Space Station.
• This Week @NASA: Podcast
• The Boy's First Flight: The first poem commissioned by NASA's Art Program.
• Business Opportunities at NASA

Unless you are a user of NASA's website, you may have a hard time putting labels on these and sorting them into groups - this is why you want to get your website users to participate in the card sorting process.  Although you may choose to have more, anywhere from 8-12 Individual Participants or 5-7 Groups is ideal.  Don't forget, you can always choose to run additional card sorts and/or closed card sorts following your open ones.

Preparing Cards