What is the main purpose of a closed card sort?

The main purpose of a closed card sort is to sort content into predefined categories. In a closed card sort, participants are provided with specific categories that they must use to organize items or content cards. This method helps in understanding how people perceive relationships among items when they are directed to think within a specific framework.

By using predefined categories, researchers can analyze how participants align content with the given organizational structure, which can inform the design of information architecture, navigation, and overall user interface. This method is particularly useful for ensuring consistency and validating the effectiveness of the proposed categories based on user input.

On the other hand, allowing participants to create their own categories aligns more with an open card sorting technique, gathering qualitative insights typically relates to user interviews or usability tests rather than card sorting, and assessing usability focuses on how easily a user can navigate and interact with the interface, which is a different aspect of user experience research altogether.