Card / pile sorting is a simple and useful means of eliciting and aggregating qualitative data, in a participatory manner. In anthropology, it is described as pile sorting, and is used for domain analysis, in the field of cognitive anthropology. In website design it is known as card sorting.
Anthropology
- How to Sort, by Harloff and Coxon, 2009 and their associated The Method of Sorting website
- Sorting Data: Collection and Analysis by A.P.M. Coxon, Sage, 1999
- Three pile sorting, by TearFund
- Hierarchical Card Sorting:A simple tool for qualitative research, by Rick Davies, update 2009
- The Use Of The Successive Pile Sort In An Ethnographic Study Of A Shelter For Battered Women
. Penelope Wong, 1991
Website design
- Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories. By Donna Spencer. Rosenfeld Media, April 2009
- Sorting Out Card Sorting: Comparing Methods for Information Architects, Usability Engineers and Other Practitioners. Steven D. Hannah, University of Minnesota Crookston, June 2005
- Card sorting: a definitive guide, by Donna Spencer and Todd Warfel on 2004
- Card sorting: by Usability.gov
Software
- OptimalSort: Online card sorting software:
- SynCapsV2: For the analysis of the results of physical card sorts, which can be downloaded and used on a desktop/laptop
- UsabilitiTest: Our Cards Sorting tool supports Closed, Open and Hybrid testing, and our Prioritization Matrix is the only such tool, currently online.
- MozDev.org: uzCardSort is an open source, MPL licensed, Mozilla based tool for conducting and analyzing card sorts.
- XSort: is a free card sorting application for Mac, aimed at user experience professionals and social scientists.