Card sort
Expose the taxonomy the human already holds by making them move pieces.
Variants
- Cut the cards apart — needs scissors
- Write one per index card — needs index_cards
- Write into the piles
Data fields
The fields a spec's page can set for this component (see switchback show card-sort --json):
sourceitemscolumns
Grounding
Helps: when the categories are real but unstated and placing each card forces a choice; sorting shows which categories a person uses, and moving physical pieces helped in a few small problem-solving studies
Backfires: when printed column headings impose categories that are not the person's own, or the finished piles look tidier than the thinking behind them; neither risk has been tested
- CPhysically rearranging external objects to think, rather than to reach a physical goal, reduces the cognitive cost of a problem and improves or speeds its solution compared with manipulating the same elements mentally.Kirsh & Maglio (1994), Vallée-Tourangeau et al. (2016), Guthrie, Harris & Vallée-Tourangeau (2015)
- CHaving people sort items into their own groups reveals the categories and dimensions they actually use, including ones they cannot readily state.Chi, Feltovich & Glaser (1981), Rugg & McGeorge (2005)
- CItems placed inside the same bounded region are perceived as belonging together, even against other grouping cues, so labelled zones make category membership readable at a glance.Wagemans et al. (2012)