Results: Hierarchy Testing

Following the technique described here: cardbased classification evaluation

We used a paper based hierarchy. All of the sections were numbered and printed out onto paper and a folder made up with all of the printed pages.

As the article describes we numbered the sections like this example:

1. Departments
1.1 Human Resources
1.1.1 Policies

And so on for all of the content. Then we could note down by number what path people followed through the hieararchy as they were following the scenarios we presented.

We amended the hierarchy as we were testing it. So if something didn't work, a document wasn't found for instance, we either, changed its name, changed the name of the section it was in or moved the document to another section.

This was a very flexible technique and showed exactly when something was buried or when a title of a section was confusing.