Itqualityassurance
Card sorting helps you organize information, while tree testing helps you understand if the way the information is organized makes sense to the user. Tree testing comes in when you already know how the information architecture should be, card sorting will help define said architecture.
- Is tree testing similar to card sorting?
- What is card sort testing?
- Why do you use tree test?
- When should you do tree testing?
Is tree testing similar to card sorting?
While card sorting is a formative activity (helping you collect great ideas to base your IA on), tree testing is an evaluative activity (helping you test if your IA ideas are actually good). Tree testing is a method sometimes also known as reverse card sorting.
What is card sort testing?
Card sorting is a method used to help design or evaluate the information architecture of a site. In a card sorting session, participants organize topics into categories that make sense to them and they may also help you label these groups.
Why do you use tree test?
Tree testing is used to assess the findability, labeling, and information architecture of a website or app. With tree testing, you can identify navigation issues early on and make improvements to ensure your users can quickly find the information they need.
When should you do tree testing?
Once you've created a draft IA based on the results of the card sort and your site requirements, run a tree test to see how it performs based on common user tasks. If you have more than one potential design, test them all with tree testing instead of putting all your effort into trying to perfect just one.
