Evidence 01. Card sorting test 1
About the test:
- Optimalsort, with videos via WhatUsersDo
- 20 users - 10 male, 10 female, 21-55
- This followed an initial trial / proof of concept test of 10 users which was not videod
Grouping trends
Most users took the approach of grouping what they saw as similar cards according to their subject (e.g. Medical/Education) or perceived use (e.g. Employment/Identity) but some other approaches were taken.
Several users grouped by type without taking into account subject. Their groups were ‘Certificate’, ‘Declaration’, ‘Identification Documents’ and ‘Instruction Document’. This was felt to be an easy initial step to group the options before then creating other categories and finding better grouping patterns.
Another users grouped entirely by scenario - ‘Import/export of goods’, ‘Documents required to study abroad’, ‘Basic documents for work abroad’, ‘Documents in case of police involvement abroad’, ‘Documents for bringing pets’, ‘Documents in case of missing or death abroad’ and ‘Marriage or civil partnership abroad’.
The most commonly used grouping titles included:
- Health/Medical/Healthcare,
- Business/work,
- Legal/Police,
- Education,
- Religion,
- Pets/Animal documents,
- Criminal Justice/Record,
- Identity/Identification,
- Personal,
- Financial/Money,
These groups were also frequently used:
- Religious,
- Marriage,
- Death,
- Employment,
- Visa, Immigration and travel,
- Government,
- Miscellaneous/Other
- Service,
- Finances.
Cards users struggled to place in Groups
Users commented that cards such as ‘Translation’, ‘Statutory Declaration’ and 'Government Issued Document’ were difficult to group because their meaning is broad and it was unclear which subject they were referring to. It was also highlighted that ‘Translation’ was felt to be a service rather than a document and so that made it difficult to place as the other options were named more like documents.
There were other cards which were felt to be vague and could be interpreted to mean varied things. Cards such as ‘Letter of Invitation’, ‘Religious Document’ and ‘Letter of Enrolment’ were difficult to identify a specific meaning too which made them difficult to group. Users also commented that cards could be placed into more than one group depending on their content e.g. ‘Court of Bankruptcy’ could be ‘Personal’ or ‘Business’, ‘Professional Qualification Certificate’ could be ‘Business’ or ‘Education’, ‘Fingerprints Document’ could be 'Police' or 'Identity' related. Documents such as a Marriage certificate could be placed in ‘Legal’, ‘Court document’ or even ‘Births, Deaths and Marriage’ groups depending on the choice of the user when creating their grouping titles.
Users also struggled to place ‘Pet Export Document’ if no specific ‘Pets’ section was created and in many cases these documents were placed in a ‘Legal’ group or ‘Other’ as the user wasn’t sure where the cards would fit. Other cards such as ‘Letter of invitation’ were also difficult to place especially if there was no ‘Immigration’ section created.
All other difficulties were either particular to user’s own set of group classifications or through difficulties with the meaning of cards.
Groups which users struggled to name, and reasons why
Users generally reviewed a number of cards, formed some initial ideas before they began and then named groups as they created them. As a result users had very little difficulty naming their groups and only occasionally adjusted naming when cards related to a subject were found and a clearer indication of the new grouping rationale could be provided through the name change e.g. One user changed their ‘Employment’ group to ‘Employment and Education’. There were other users took a slightly different approach by initially placing all apparently unrelated cards out on their own and then grouping if there were related options.
Other pertinent trends
Users sometimes misunderstood the meaning of cards e.g. ‘Certificate of Free Sale’ and placed them incorrectly. The meaning of many cards was not immediately understood and had to be researched, when this research was hurried users sometimes drew the wrong conclusions and placed cards incorrectly. In addition, some cards were researched but the research did not provide a clear definition of the document which mean that the user was still unsure where the card should be placed. This included cards such as ‘Translation’ and ‘Government Issued Documents’.
Additional / alternative cards suggested by users
- No alternative cards were suggested by users
Individual test details
- Each individual test video available in WhatUsersdo account
- Raw data downloads available from Mark B