CIA Card Sorting and Tree Testing Methods Flashcards
6 cards from real CIA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 CIA Card Sorting and Tree Testing Methods flashcards as text
What is the primary purpose of card sorting in information architecture?
Answer: To discover how users mentally categorize and group information
Card sorting reveals users' mental models by having them group content cards into categories that make sense to them.
In an open card sort, participants are asked to:
Answer: Create their own category names as they group cards
Open card sorts let participants define their own category names, revealing organic user mental models without researcher bias.
A closed card sort is best used when:
Answer: You want to validate whether existing categories work for users
Closed card sorts provide predefined categories and test whether users can correctly place content within an existing structure.
Tree testing is specifically designed to evaluate:
Answer: How easily users can find items within a proposed navigation structure
Tree testing measures findability by asking users to locate specific items using only the site's navigation hierarchy, without visual design distractions.
What metric is most commonly used to measure success in a tree test task?
Answer: Task completion rate and directness score
Tree test success is measured by whether users completed the task and how directly they navigated to the correct item without backtracking.
Which card sorting analysis technique groups participants by similarity of their sorting patterns?
Answer: Cluster analysis
Cluster analysis in card sorting identifies groups of participants who organized cards similarly, revealing distinct user mental models.