Moderated card sorting with Optimal Sort

Note: Moderated card sorting integration is only available for open card sorts on paid subscriptions.

One limitation of remote card sorting is that it lacks the qualitative aspect of conventional card sorting: you don't have the opportunity to ask your participants about the decisions they're making as they make them. Now you can get the benefits of traditional in-person card sorting along with the quantitative data and analysis of remote card sorting.

Set up your survey

Set up your Optimal Sort survey as if you were going to just perform a remote card sort. You can either download a .pdf file of your cards for printing from the Survey page, or create your own.

Printing your cards

We currently provide an A4 formatted pdf document designed to be printed onto perforated business card paper so that your cards can be easily separated. If you don't have access to perforated business card paper, don't worry - we've marked where you'll need to cut.

Create your own

Simply put the card names (and descriptions, if necessary) onto pieces of card. You'll need to remember which order the cards are in in your Optimal Sort project, so it will be helpful for later to mark the backs of the cards with which their respective order (1, 2, 3, etc.)

Import your data

From the participants tab on the results page of your survey, click "Add a moderated card sort participant". If you specified any questions to ask your participants, you can enter an answer here. Start by creating a new group. To enter your cards you need to know which order they came in when you were setting up your survey.

If you printed off the cards from the document we provided, you can either scan the barcode on the card (after clicking on the "card number" textbox) or enter the number under the barcode into the textbox directly.

If you created your own cards, you can just enter the card order number (which corresponds to the number on the barcode in the document we provide).

Once you're satisfied with the group you've created, click the "Create group" button. The menu will refresh, allowing you to create another group. When you're finished entering data for the participant, close the Create Group menu and either click "Save and continue" (to add another participant) or "Save and return to results" if you're finished adding moderated participants.