This document discusses taxonomy validation techniques that can enhance usability. It describes both qualitative techniques like individual/group interviews, card sorting, and tree testing as well as quantitative techniques like online surveys and corpus analysis. These validation methods help prove that a site structure works before design/implementation. The document also provides examples of applying techniques like card sorting and corpus analysis for clients in financial and retail industries.

1. TAXONOMY VALIDATION TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE USABILITY
Tatiana Cakici and Ben White
November 6, 2017

2. When users’ first click is down
the right path, 87%
eventually succeed.
When they click down an
incorrect path, only 46%
eventually succeed.
Source: http://webusability.com/firstclick-usability-testing/
first click

3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE IMPORTANCE OF TAXONOMY AND USABILITY VALIDATION
QUALITATIVE TAXONOMY VALIDATION TECHNIQUES
QUANTITATIVE TAXONOMY VALIDATION TECHNIQUES
TAXONOMY VALIDATION TOOLS
BUSINESS CASES

4. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Taxonomy validation:
Prove that the site structure or tagging framework works
before getting into interface design or system
implementation.
Benefits of Taxonomy Validation:
1. Empower the End Users
2. Enhance Search Results
3. Reduce Content Complexity
Cost savings
Increased user
adoption
Increased user
satisfaction

5. QUALITATIVE VALIDATION TECHNIQUES

6. INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS
▪ Strengths
▪ Gather more detailed information
from content authors and owners.
▪ Explore specific content areas that
require full attention.
▪ Responses are not affected by other
people’s responses.
▪ Weaknesses
▪ Feedback from a limited number of
people.
▪ No group consensus on the taxonomy
updates.
▪ Not knowing or understanding other’s
perspectives.
▪ Qualitative data instead of quantitative
data.
A series of structured questions presented to a
single individual to capture their beliefs and
attitudes about finding and discovering content.

7. GROUP INTERVIEWS
▪ Strengths
▪ Get feedback from more people.
▪ Gain consensus on the changes or
updates to the taxonomy.
▪ Listen to other’s perspectives on
their content categorization view
points and needs.
▪ Weaknesses
▪ Possibly, lack of detailed
discussions.
▪ Qualitative data instead of
quantitative data.
A series of structured questions presented to a
group of individuals to capture their beliefs and
attitudes about finding and discovering content.

8. QUANTITATIVE VALIDATION TECHNIQUES

9. ONLINE SURVEY (ALSO QUALITATIVE)
▪ Strengths
▪ Collect standard data over a date
range (e.g. a week).
▪ Get feedback from a larger audience
(e.g. hundreds of people).
▪ Flexibility to capture data in multiple
ways, including text fields or multiple
choice (radio button, dropdown, or
checkbox).
▪ Weaknesses
▪ Risk of survey fraud or users not
being honest in the online survey.
▪ Absence of skilled interviewer to
guide the interview.
An online questionnaire that a target audience
can complete remotely in their own time.

10. CARD SORTING
▪ Strengths
▪ Fun way to get the user insights
needed to make informed IA
decisions.
▪ Flexibility to perform open, close or
hybrid card sort exercises.
▪ Weaknesses
▪ Card sorting results can often be
inconsistent among testers.
▪ Card sorting labels are not presented
in context, creating confusion among
some users.
A tool to find out how people think content should
be organized into categories.

11. FIRST CLICK TEST
▪ Strengths
▪ It helps increase “task oriented
success rates” by getting quick
feedback on designs before
implementing or updating them.
▪ It helps ensure that users get started
on the right foot when they hit the
website.
▪ Weaknesses
▪ Difficult to test a complete
taxonomic hierarchy through first
click testing.
Test wireframes and prototypes to identify
usability issues before building a website.

12. TREE TEST
▪ Strengths
▪ It helps validate the information
architecture and labeling.
▪ Also known as ‘reverse card sorting’.
▪ It uses a simplified text version of
the site structure – without the
influence of navigation aids and visual
design.
▪ Weaknesses
▪ Excellent for testing shallow
taxonomies. Quickly becomes
cumbersome for testers when
taxonomic hierarchy exceeds two
levels.
A usability technique for evaluating the findability
of topics in a website.

13. CORPUS ANALYSIS
▪ Strengths
▪ Extract words and phrases found
directly in text to determine the
foundation of taxonomy terms.
▪ Identify gaps in vocabulary.
▪ Taxonomy terms are reflected in the
content they are describing.
▪ Weaknesses
▪ Must be combined with a more
qualitative assessment to gain a
firm understanding of a user groups
nuanced view of language.
An analysis of the text that a taxonomy will be
used to describe using an online machine
learning tool or manually.

14. TAXONOMY VALIDATION TOOLS

15. TAXONOMY VALIDATION TOOLS
FIRST-
CLICK
TEST
TREE
TEST
SURVEY
CARD
SORTING
CORPUS
ANALYSIS

16. BUSINESS CASES

17. CLIENT IN THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY
Validation
Techniques
Individual Interviews Y
Group Interviews Y
Online Survey
Card Sorting Y
First Click Test
Tree Test
Corpus Analysis Y
• Call Center Portal
• End users: service representatives
across multiple states in the US
• Content: guides and answers to
frequently asked questions

18. CLIENT IN THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY
▪ Card Sorting

19. CLIENT IN THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY
▪ Card Sorting
Card Sorting Exercise Statistics
Total invitations sent 125 (100%)
Total participants 94 (75%)
Number of cards (documents) to sort 30
Number of categories provided 9
Average time taken to complete 7.5 Minutes
Days between launch date and close date 8 days
New category
suggested by
the
participants
Number of
participants
who
suggested
the category
Number of
cards
classified
under this
category
Existing categories
already available in
other Taxonomies
Recommended
Action
Annuities 8 4 Currently available under
the Product and Services
Taxonomy:
- Annuities
No changes.
Application
Submission /
Application
Processing
7 3 Currently available under
the Procedure
Taxonomy:
- Submitting an
Application
Add “Application
submission”,
“Application
Processing” and
“Application Input”
as synonyms to
“Submitting an
Application”.
Beneficiary 2 5 Currently available under
the Customer Type
Taxonomy:
- Direct Beneficiary
No changes.
Cancellations /
Policy
Surrender /
Policy
Cancellation /
Policy-
Contract
Cancelation
11 2 None. Add “Policy
Cancellation” (Level
2) to the Topic
Taxonomy under
“Policy Information”
(Level 1) with
synonym: “Policy
Surrender”.
Statistics
Taxonomy Validation Analysis

20. CLIENT IN THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY
▪ Corpus Analysis

21. CLIENT IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY (UK)
Validation
Techniques
Individual Interviews Y
Group Interviews Y
Online Survey
Card Sorting Y
First Click Test
Tree Test Y
Corpus Analysis Y
• HR Portal
• End users: staff across Europe and
Asia offices
• Content: policy documents,
procedures, forms, and learning
guides

22. CLIENT IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY (UK)
▪ Tree Test Study

23. CLIENT IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY (UK)
▪ Corpus Analysis

24. WE’LL BE ANSWERING QUESTIONS NOW
Q A&
THANKS FOR LISTENING
Q & A SESSION

25. CONTACT US
▪ Ben White
bwhite@enterprise-knowledge.com
▪ Tatiana Baquero Cakici
tcakici@enterprise-knowledge.com