Open vs Closed OptimalSort Surveys

Choosing between an Open or Closed card sort is the most important choice you need to make when setting up your card sort survey. The two survey types are described below.

Open Sort

In an Open card sort, participants create their own categories by dragging cards into groups that make the most sense to them. Participants are asked to label each of the categories they create.

An Open sort helps you to:

• Gain insight to help you design the information architecture.
• Understand how users think about your information and its relevance to them.
• Get user input on how to label categories of content.

An Open sort is generally most useful early in the website design process.

The image below illustrates what the participant sees during an Open card sort:

Closed Sort

In a Closed sort, you as the survey creator pre-define the categories into which cards will be arranged, and participants are asked to drag the cards into those categories. Participants must use the categories you define and are unable to create their own categories.

A Open sort helps you to:

• Test existing design(s) by using common user tasks as your cards.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the labels of each category.
• Understand where users will look for different types of information.

A Closed sort is especially valuable later in the development of a website, to validate the approach you have decided to take.

The image below illustrates what the participant sees during a Closed card sort: