Closed card sorting question type
The Closed card sorting question type presents respondents with a set of cards and asks them to organise them into categories you define. It is useful for testing how well your content, products, or concepts fit an existing structure.
Respondent view
Setting up a closed card sorting question
1. Add question
Navigate to the Add questions tab and click the button at the bottom of the page.
On the Add or import questions pop-out, select the Add a new question tab. Under the Matrix grid group, click the card to add it to your experiment.
2. Add your cards and categories
The question comes with 3 cards and 3 categories by default. Cards are the items respondents will sort and categories are the buckets they sort them into.
- Click Add row to add more cards.
- Click Add column to add more categories.
- Click the name of any card or category to rename it. Names cannot be left blank.
3. Set the card order and category order
Under Order of Cards and Order of Categories, choose how cards and categories are presented to respondents (e.g. fixed order or randomised).
4. Set the number of cards per category (optional)
Use the Number of cards — From / To fields to control how many cards a respondent can place in each category.
| From | To | What respondents can do |
|---|---|---|
| Any | Any | Place any number of cards; response is not required |
| N | Any | Must place at least N cards in a category |
| Any | N | Can place up to N cards; response is not required |
| N | N | Must place exactly N cards |
| N | M | Must place between N and M cards |
Please note that setting To to 0 will prevent respondents from answering. Make sure the To value is 1 or higher.
5. Require all cards to be categorised (optional)
Check All cards need to be categorised to make sure respondents place every card before they can move on.
If this is turned on, ensure your maximum cards per category setting is high enough to accommodate all cards, otherwise respondents will be unable to complete the question.
Customising hint text
You can adjust the instructions respondents see by going to the Edit template tab and opening the Hints for questions module, and navigate to the Closed card sorting section.