Priming Categorization in a Card Sort

Abstract

When using the card sorting technique, the goal of a user experience researcher is to determine the user's expected information architecture. Card sorting is a knowledge elicitation method where users are given labeled cards and are asked to place them into groups. This method is commonly used to determine a natural navigation structure for a group of users. We examine the impact of priming, an implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus, on this popular user-centered design method. A control group did the card sort only, while the experimental group watched a short presentation before performing their card sorts. The dependent measure was the percentage of agreement of each card sort against the typical sort. The primed group sort was significantly more similar to the typical response than the control group. This study provides evidence that card sorting can be modulated by priming.