Comments on: Card Sorting Analysis: One size fits all approach

By: Tony [APM] Coxon

Tony [APM] Coxon — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:05:29 +0000

NewMDSX contains programs for analysis of co-occurrence and sorting data (download 1-month free full version), and http://www.methodofsorting.com includes two programs for the entry and preprocessing of sortings data prior to MDS, HCS etc, as described in my Sage book, SORTING DATA

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:34:05 +0000

Hi Rashmi,

Is there any MDS software that you would recommend?

Thanks, Vanessa

By: Sumathi

Sumathi — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:58:45 +0000

Pls help me.I've carried out card sorting activity but can't seem to understand the analysis part.dendogram?matrix from excel sheet?I do not understand how to summarize with only 3 users result.

By: Anjum

Anjum — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 10:55:05 +0000

I would like to kno wabout card sorting...Could u pl. advice me the very basic stuff with examples. I would like to receive your advice through my email....

Kind Regards

By: Tony Coxon

Tony Coxon — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 15:46:36 +0000

There are far more methods of analysing sorting data than hierarchical cluster analysis — within MDS there is MDSORT by Takane, specifically designed for sorting data, and a whole range of other representations.

I cannot forebear citing my book: SORTING DATA: COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS (Sage: QASS 127, 1999) which covers this ground, and http://www.newmdsx.com, which contains MDSORT!

Good sorting

Tony

By: rashmi

rashmi — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 22:14:12 +0000

If you are looking for software then EzCalc is your best bet. You can find a copy on the internet archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20040205000418/http://www-3.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/Publish/410.

If you want to do the stats on your own, then a basic multivariate stats book should suffice. The site I mentioned above is a good start: http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html

YOu need to look up Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Basically you will need to generate a similarity matrix from the card sort data and then do cluster analysis.,

By: Divya

Divya — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:20:35 +0000

Hi
Does any one know of any resources (books, sites) that might provide practical guidance on how to conduct cluster analysis from card sorts?

Thanks
Divya

By: rashmi

rashmi — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 03:52:41 +0000

I dont have any ready references for doing MDS. But I have done it in the past. And its pretty similar to doing MDS for other types of data matrices (described in any standard statistical textbook (an online one is here: http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html).

By: Larry Wood

Larry Wood — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 19:30:17 +0000

Rashmi,

Just ran across this while looking for articles on card sorting. As one of the developers of the card sorting tutorial at CHI, I wish you'd have posed your question to one of us. I'm very interested in expanding into other cluster analysis techniques besides HCA and would enjoy discussing it with you. In particular, I'd be interested in a reference that discusses the algorithms for doing MDS with just paired frequency.

Hope to hear from you.

By: rashmi

rashmi — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:47:34 +0000

James, glad to see you here.

You are right, we probably need to be a little more insistent about the case study issue.

As regards card-sorting, I really believe its a far more powerful technique than its current usage would imply. For example, its a good way to understand emotional connotations and associations with objects and people. Or it can be used in the conceptualization stage - to simply understand how people think about a domain.