{"id":1383,"date":"2025-05-12T11:24:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T11:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8091\/how-do-i-interpret-the-results-of-a-card-sorting-study\/how-do-i-interpret-the-categories-analysis-in-card-sorting\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T07:17:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T07:17:28","slug":"analysis-categories","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/card-sorting-results\/analysis-categories\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I interpret the Categories Analysis in Card Sorting?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"text-block\">This section covers how to use the Categories analysis to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"bullet-list\">\n<li>View which cards were sorted into each category<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create standardized categories in open and hybrid Card Sorting<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save Standardization presets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get a PDF Export of Categories analysis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"view-which-cards-were-sorted-into-each-category\" class=\"heading-block\" tabindex=\"0\">View which cards were sorted into each category<a class=\"copy-link\" title=\"Copy link\" data-id=\"view-which-cards-were-sorted-into-each-category\">&nbsp;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/themes\/uxtweak\/public\/assets\/images\/icons\/link.svg\" alt=\"Copy link\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n<ul class=\"bullet-list\">\n<li>The Categories analysis displays the list of all categories in your Card Sorting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each category contains its name, the number of unique cards that were sorted into it, the agreement score (in the case of standardized categories, and the number of respondents who used this category).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By default, the cards are ordered by the number of&nbsp;<strong>Unique cards<\/strong>&nbsp;inside them in descending order; however, the order can be changed by clicking the headers&nbsp;<strong>Unique Cards<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Agreement,<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Respondents.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The table is sorted by the column with an arrow in its header. Arrow down means descending order; arrow up means ascending order.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Press&nbsp;<strong>+ Show cards<\/strong>&nbsp;to display a list of all cards that were sorted into the chosen category.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The list of category cards contains the&nbsp;<strong>Card name<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Freq.<\/strong>&nbsp;(how many times the card was sorted into this category), and&nbsp;<strong>Avg. pos.<\/strong>&nbsp;(the average position of the card within this category).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As with the categories list, the order of cards can be changed by clicking&nbsp;<strong>Freq.<\/strong>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<strong>Avg. pos.<\/strong>&nbsp;in the table&#8217;s header.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click&nbsp;<strong>Fullscreen<\/strong>&nbsp;to display the category results in fullscreen mode.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use the search bar to search for categories and their cards by their name.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"image-block\">    <div class=\"image-instance\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-29.png\" alt=\"View respondent-defined categories\" \/>\n                <div class=\"right-container\">\n            <div class=\"text\">\n                                    <h4>View respondent-defined categories<\/h4>\n                                                    <p>First look at the categories reveals that categories with the keyword &#8220;Baby&#8221; were quite popular.<\/p>\n                            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"links\">\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"image-instance\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-24.png\" alt=\"Cards in categories\" \/>\n                <div class=\"right-container\">\n            <div class=\"text\">\n                                    <h4>Cards in categories<\/h4>\n                                                    <p>The way respondents categorize the cards provides deeper insight into the concept they are trying to convey.<\/p>\n                            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"links\">\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"create-standardized-categories-in-open-and-hybrid-card-sorting\" class=\"heading-block\" tabindex=\"0\">Create standardized categories in open and hybrid Card Sorting<a class=\"copy-link\" title=\"Copy link\" data-id=\"create-standardized-categories-in-open-and-hybrid-card-sorting\">&nbsp;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/themes\/uxtweak\/public\/assets\/images\/icons\/link.svg\" alt=\"Copy link\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">Standardized categories allow you to merge two or more respondent-defined categories into one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"step-block\">    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 1<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Select the categories you want to standardize by checking their checkbox.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 2<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Click the Standardize button above the categories list.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 3<\/span>\n\n                    <p>In the Category standardization modal view, enter the standardized category name and check the Agreement value.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 4<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Click Create.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 5<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Voil\u00e0, there&#8217;s your standardized category in the category list.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">To undo standardized categories, select them in the list and click the&nbsp;<strong>Unstandardize<\/strong>&nbsp;button next to the Standardize button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">The Agreement score expresses how the respondents who created the original categories agree with the contents of the standardized category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">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 the same card but also one different card each, the Agreement score would be (100 + 50 + 50) \/ 3 = 66)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">The Agreement score&#8217;s coloring shows the quality of the standardization:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"bullet-list\">\n<li>Great &#8211; 80% and higher &#8211; standardization with a great score is what you aim for, as it means the standardization is a good representation of the original categories.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Good &#8211; 60% and higher &#8211; this standardization isn&#8217;t bad, but you should look into ways to improve. 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bad &#8211; lower than 60% &#8211; there&#8217;s little similarity between the original categories; this standardization definitely shouldn&#8217;t be used as is.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"save-standardization-presets\" class=\"heading-block\" tabindex=\"0\">Save Standardization presets<a class=\"copy-link\" title=\"Copy link\" data-id=\"save-standardization-presets\">&nbsp;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/themes\/uxtweak\/public\/assets\/images\/icons\/link.svg\" alt=\"Copy link\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">After you&#8217;ve created your standardized categories, you will want to save them for future use. Saving standardized categories is done through&nbsp;<strong>Standardization presets<\/strong>. To save your standardizations as a preset:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"step-block\">    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 1<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Click the Save as button located above the category list<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 2<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Enter the name of your Standardization preset.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 3<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Click Create.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"step-instance\">\n        <span class=\"step-number\">Step 4<\/span>\n\n                    <p>Your Standardization preset will appear in the Standardization preset dropdown list.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">After you&#8217;ve created your first Standardization preset, the&nbsp;<strong>Save as<\/strong>&nbsp;button will change into a&nbsp;<strong>Save<\/strong>&nbsp;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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"image-block\">    <div class=\"image-instance\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-20.png\" alt=\"Know the categories you standardize\" \/>\n                <div class=\"right-container\">\n            <div class=\"text\">\n                                    <h4>Know the categories you standardize<\/h4>\n                                                    <p>When standardizing categories simply by a similar name (&#8220;life&#8221;), we get a standardization with an agreement score of only 45.5%, meaning respondents would mostly disagree with this category.<\/p>\n                            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"links\">\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n\n    <div class=\"image-instance\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-16.png\" alt=\"Higher agreement for better standardization\" \/>\n                <div class=\"right-container\">\n            <div class=\"text\">\n                                    <h4>Higher agreement for better standardization<\/h4>\n                                                    <p>After looking into the contents of categories, we standardize only those that have more cards in common. Our new standardization is indubitably better, with a score of 65%. This also means that it&#8217;s a better representation of the original concepts.<\/p>\n                            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"links\">\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"get-a-pdf-export-of-categories-analysis\" class=\"heading-block\" tabindex=\"0\">Get a PDF Export of Categories analysis<a class=\"copy-link\" title=\"Copy link\" data-id=\"get-a-pdf-export-of-categories-analysis\">&nbsp;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/help.uxtweak.com\/wp-content\/themes\/uxtweak\/public\/assets\/images\/icons\/link.svg\" alt=\"Copy link\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">You can create a PDF report of all the information listed above, exactly like you can see in the web interface. To create an export, click&nbsp;<strong>PDF Export<\/strong>&nbsp;in the upper right corner of the tab contents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-block\">If you wish to create a report using more than one section of your study&#8217;s results, go to the&nbsp;<a href=\"\/help\/card-sorting-results\/tab-export\/\">Export tab<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This section covers how to use the Categories analysis to: Standardized categories allow you to merge two or more respondent-defined categories into one. To undo standardized categories, select them in the list and click the&nbsp;Unstandardize&nbsp;button next to the Standardize button. The Agreement score expresses how the respondents who created the original categories agree with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1367,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1383","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3006,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1383\/revisions\/3006"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxtweak.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}