Utilizing Surveys: An Examination of When and Why They're Beneficial
In a new video from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Tobias Toft, Kevin Cannon, and their team delve into the appropriate use of surveys and some alternatives in user research. The video offers guidance on choosing the right research tool for a given problem, helping researchers avoid the "to someone with a hammer everything looks like a nail" trap when deciding on research tools.
One such alternative is Card Sorting, a technique related to the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Card Sorting is not explicitly mentioned as a research tool in the video but is discussed as a valuable method in understanding how users intuitively organize, categorize, and label information.
Card Sorting is primarily used to: 1. Identify user mental models, revealing how users internally structure and interpret information, enabling designers to align with these mental models. 2. Create intuitive information hierarchies, helping build logical, user-friendly content structures and navigation paths that match user expectations. 3. Label and nomenclature, informing the selection of clear, user-understandable category names based on users’ own labels during sorting. 4. Validate existing information architectures, comparing current IA setups against users’ natural grouping to find areas of improvement or mismatch. 5. Solve navigation and findability issues, highlighting problematic areas in how users locate content, thus guiding redesign efforts.
Card sorting can be performed both online and offline and can be used before or after an initial Information Architecture (IA) is created to refine it.
In addition to Card Sorting, the video discusses various alternatives to surveys, such as A/B testing, Tree testing, First-click testing, Five-second tests, Preference tests, and Usability testing and user interviews. These methods provide deeper or different insights, often more dynamically than surveys, and can be used to evaluate usability, user attention, and visual appeal.
Many platforms offer integrated tools combining card sorting with these alternative methods, providing richer user research options beyond surveys.
In summary, Card Sorting is best for exploring and validating information architecture and navigation aligned to user mental models, while alternatives to surveys encompass interactive, observational, and experimental techniques to more effectively understand user behavior and preferences in different contexts.
[1] Nielsen, J., & Tahir, A. (2014). Interviewing Users: The Definitive Guide. New Riders.
[2] Rubin, J., & Chisnell, D. (2011). A Practitioner's Guide to Usability Testing. Wiley.
[3] Morville, P., & Brusilovsky, P. (Eds.). (2005). The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd ed. Academic Press.
[4] Kuniavsky, A. (2003). Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research. Morgan Kaufmann.
[5] Polar, M., & Goodyear, P. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of Usability Testing. Wiley.
- In the realm of education-and-self-development, understanding interaction design often involves reading books like "Interviewing Users: The Definitive Guide" by Nielsen and Tahir or "A Practitioner's Guide to Usability Testing" by Rubin and Chisnell to gain insights into various user research methods such as Card Sorting and other alternatives to surveys.
- For a comprehensive learning experience, an individual might explore resources like "The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction" edited by Morville and Brusilovsky, or "Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research" by Kuniavsky to delve deeper into the application of Card Sorting in lifestyle contexts, alongside other user research techniques.
