When To Use Card Sort
Card sort questions ask respondents to drag a set of cards into categories. They are useful for information architecture research, taxonomy and mental-model studies, message or concept categorization, and any task where you want to learn how people naturally group items rather than imposing a scale on each one individually.
Block Builder: Card Sort
Use card sort when grouping is the construct of interest. If respondents only need to rate or rank items individually, use Grid Matrix or Ranking instead.
How It Supports Research Design
- Cards: the items respondents sort.
- Categories: the buckets cards can be dropped into.
- Closed sort: respondents use only the categories you define.
- Open / hybrid sort: allow respondents to add their own categories when you want to learn what groupings people invent, not just confirm your own.
- Card order: keep the starting order fixed or shuffle it per respondent.
Configure It In Domandata
Step 1: Open Block Builder. Open the survey and select the block where the sorting task belongs.
Step 1: Open Block Builder
Step 2: Add a Card Sort question. Choose Card Sort from the question type selector.
Step 2: Choose Card Sort question type
Step 3: List the cards. Add every item respondents will sort. Keep card text short so it reads clearly as a draggable chip.
Step 3: List the cards
Step 4: List the categories. Add the buckets cards can be sorted into, and decide whether respondents may add their own.
Step 4: List the categories
Step 5: Name and code it. Add a readable variable name so the exported assignment column is easy to interpret.
Step 5: Variable Name
Step 6: Preview the drag interaction. Confirm cards can be dragged into every category on both desktop and a narrower viewport; see Mobile-Friendly Research Surveys for phone checks.
Step 6: Preview the sort
Preview: Try Card Sort
Card Sort: Respondent View
Drag cards into categories — the same sorting interface respondents see.
Data And Export Notes
Each response exports which category every card landed in. If a required response still leaves cards unsorted, treat that as a data-quality flag — mark the question required and check for incomplete sorts before analysis. When an open or hybrid sort is enabled, respondent-created category names export alongside the authored categories.