Our pre-sort questionnaire helped us understand our participants' backgrounds, ensuring we captured a range of perspectives to inform our findings. We collected basic demographic details such as age, gender, and ethnicity to identify potential patterns in how different users organize information. Additionally, we gathered insights into their familiarity with technology and UM Interactive Media website to assess how their experience level might influence their sorting decisions. These responses provided valuable context for analyzing the card sort results, allowing us to draw deeper conclusions about user navigation preferences for the UM Interactive Media website.

Sampling Method:

Participants were recruited using convenience sampling, allowing us to efficiently gather a diverse range of perspectives and initial insights into user needs and preferences. However, future research with a larger and more representative sample will be necessary to validate these findings.

Participants:

We interviewed 12 participants, all existing or prospective college students over the age of 18. While the sample size was relatively small, it provided a valuable foundation for identifying key themes and informing the design of the UM Interactive Media website.

Our research revealed that participants were generally unlikely to recommend the current UM Interactive Media website, reflected in a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of -33.

We considered a 40% agreement level as the threshold for identifying meaningful groupings. At this level, four distinct groups emerged, indicating that participants primarily organized content by function rather than audience:

• Events and Sharing Spaces Information (yellow cluster) — This cluster shows strong agreement among participants, indicating that content related to events and shared spaces was naturally associated.
• Application and FAQ (orange cluster) — The strong grouping at a low branch reflects that participants consistently connected application-related information and frequently asked questions.
• Faculty/Accomplishments (blue cluster) — While less tightly grouped than the previous two, this cluster indicates a moderate consensus around content related to faculty profiles and student awards.
• Career and Alumni Services (pink cluster) — Although this cluster formed at a higher branch, suggesting a weaker consensus, it still reflects a logical grouping based on career and alumni-related content.

Our analysis of the similarity matrix highlighted consistent patterns in how participants associated content:

• Career-Related Groupings:

  Items like "Career services and internships for students" and "Posting jobs for students of the program" showed a high similarity score, indicating that participants consistently associated career services and job-related content as part of the same category.

• Application-Related Groupings:

  Application requirements for international students" and "Information for international students applying to the program" were frequently paired, reflecting a strong user expectation that information related to international applications should be grouped together.

• Campus and Facility Information:

  "Description of Meeting Spaces" and "Information about the building where classes are taught" had a high similarity score, suggesting that participants expected information about facilities and campus logistics to be presented together.

Our analysis revealed six clear content clusters, reflecting user expectations:

• External Career Source – Users linked "How to hire our students" and "Information for companies and organizations that partner with the program," indicating the need for a separate section for external partners.
• Career Resources for Students/Alumni – Items like "Career services and internships for students" and "Posting jobs for students" were consistently grouped, suggesting a dedicated section for student career resources.
• Overview of the Program – Strong connections between "Overview of the program", "Required courses", and "Program concentrations" highlight the need for a clear program overview section.
• Admission & Application – Clustering of "Online application," "Application requirements," and "Program tuition" supports consolidating all admission-related content.
• Research Spaces – Items like "Description of research facilities" and "Meeting spaces" were grouped together, suggesting users expect facility details to be unified.
• Newsletter & Social Media – Grouping of "Newsletter sign-up" and "How to follow the program" reflects the need to centralize communication resources.

The findings from our card sorting exercise provided valuable insights that directly influenced our design recommendations. Due to project limitations, we were unable to develop a fully interactive website. However, leveraging the analysis, we were able to identify key secondary navigation patterns and make informed recommendations for a future build.

• Prioritize Career: Maintain prominent "Career" section based on user importance.
• Enhance Admissions: Continue dedicated "Admissions" with detailed info, especially for international students (Miami relevance).
• Clarify Research/Facilities: Standardize terminology, group research under "Research" for better navigation.
• Maintain FAQs: Keep separate FAQs for Career and Admissions for easy access.
• Support Communication: Retain "Newsletter" and social media links for engagement.
• Organize Programs: Keep the current clear program breakdown.
• Expand Student Life: Develop a comprehensive "Student On-Campus Life" page.