Using an open card sort with children to categorize games in a mobile phone application store

Abstract

This paper presents a study aimed at better understanding how children categorize different games. The paper reports the results of an open card sort where participants were asked to categorize games from the Google Play Store (formerly the "Android Marketplace"). The key contribution of the paper is that when compared with existing categories in the Google Play Store, children used categorization criteria much more aligned to the goals of the game rather than more abstract categories currently found in mobile phone application stores. The paper provides examples of existing categories that are not generally used by children and provides new examples of categorization criteria that are used by children to categorize existing games.

Linking card sorting to browsing performance – are congruent municipal websites more efficient to use?

“…Ebenezer 2003;Turnbow et al 2005). The broad applicability of the card sorting method is further demonstrated by studies involving children (Cassidy, Antani, and Read 2013;Pemberton and Road 2009), participants from different cultures (Petrie et al 2011) and varying literacy (Kodagoda, Wong, and Khan 2010).…”

Investigating the Extent to Which Children Use Mobile Phone Application Stores

“…If the number of children using application stores is significant, then it makes sense that we should be recognising children as users of app stores and considering their unique needs and wants in their design. Children categorise things differently to adults (Denney & Ziobrowski, 1972) and this has been seen with both books (Hutchinson, Druin & Bederson, 2007) and the categorisation of games within app stores themselves (Cassidy, Antani & Read, 2013). It was found children categorise games more in line with the characters in the game, what the character does within the game or the end goals of the game itself.…”

“…This suggests children both discuss mobile phone games amongst their peers and also have a desire to discover games of their own, or games aligned to their friends interests. This raises an interesting question as to whether children find application stores intuitive to use, as prior research has shown the categories used in some application stores are not currently intuitive to younger children as they are too abstract (Cassidy, Antani & Read, 2013).…”

“…Categories that received the most responses were related to search and categorisation. It is already known that some categories in application stores do not make sense to children (Cassidy, Antani & Read, 2013), which may explain why improvements to text search are also popular suggestions with children.…”

"It's your private information. it's your life."

“…Different types of card activities have been used as methodological tools in many different research contexts: for example as 'thinking tools' aiding problem solving in design ideation [21], as a humancentered approach to addressing human values in design [19], to aid discussion of online privacy and consent [4], and to make IT law more accessible to citizens [40]. Cards have also been used to help designers to take account of the needs of children and young people, highlighting the importance of making sure materials are appropriate for the intended age group [5,10]. Ideation cards promote reflection on relevant issues, engaging a wide range of stakeholders, in particular non-experts, in generating ideas, promoting critical thinking, and allowing a focus on human values and users' needs [46].…”