How do I interpret the Categories Analysis in Card Sorting?

In this help, we'll discuss how to use the Categories analysis to:

View which cards were sorted into each category
Create standardized categories in open and hybrid Card Sorting
Save Standardization presets
Get a PDF Export of Categories analysis

View which cards were sorted into each category

The Categories analysis displays the list of all categories in your Card Sorting
Each category contains its name, the number of unique cards that were sorted into it, the agreement score (in case of standardized categories, and the number of respondents who used this category)
By default, the cards are ordered by the number of Unique cards inside them in descending order, however the order can be changed, by clicking the headers Unique Cards , Agreement and Respondents
The table is sorted by the column with an arrow in its header. Arrow down means descending order, arrow up means ascending order
Press + Show cards to display a list of all cards that were sorted into the chosen category
The list of category's cards contains the Card name , Freq. (how many times the card was sorted into this category), and Avg. pos. (the average position of the card within this category)
As with categories list, the order of cards can be changed by clicking Freq. or Avg. pos. in the table's header
Click Fullscreen to display the category results in fullscreen mode
Use the search bar to search for categories and their cards by their name

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Create standardized categories in open and hybrid Card Sorting

Standardized categories allow you to merge two or more respondent-defined categories into one

Step 1

Select the categories you want to standardize by checking their checkbox.

Step 2

Click the Standardize button above the categories list.

Step 3

In the Category standardization modal view, enter the standardized category name and check the Agreement value.

Step 4

Click Create.

Step 5

Voilà, there's your standardized category in the category list.

To undo standardized categories, select them in the list and click the Unstandardize button next to the Standardize button

The Agreement score expresses how the respondents who created the original categories agree with the contents of the standardized category.

The Agreement score is calculated as the average of the percentages of respondents who placed each unique card into the original categories. (e.g. when standardizing two categories from two different people, if these categories contain one same card but also one different card each, the Agreement score would be (100 + 50 + 50) / 3 = 66)

Agreement score's coloring shows the quality of the standardization:

Great - 80% and higher - standardization with great score is what you aim for, as it means the standardization is a good representation of the original categories
Good - 60% and higher - this standardization isn't bad, but you should look into ways for improving. Two possible ways are to remove categories that decrease agreement or look for subsets of similar categories and split the standardization into several smaller ones
Bad - lower than 60% - there's little similarity between the original categories, this standardization definitely shouldn't be used as is

Save Standardization presets

After you've created your standardized categories, you will want to save them for future use. Saving standardized categories is done through Standardization presets . To save your standardizations as a preset:

Step 1

Click the Save as button located above the category list

Step 2

Enter the name of your Standardization preset.

Step 3

Click Create.

Step 4

Your Standardization preset will appear in the Standardization preset dropdown list.

After you've created your first Standardization preset, the Save as button will change into a Save button. Press it to save any changes to the preset. To save your standardization as a different preset, rename the current Standardization preset or delete it, click the dropdown list on the right of the Save button and choose the relevant action.

Get a PDF Export of Categories analysis

You can create a PDF report of all the information listed above, exactly like you can see it in the web interface. To create an export, click PDF Export in the upper right corner of the tab contents.

If you wish to create a report using more than one section of your study's results, go to the Export tab