Debriefing users

Once participants finish sorting, take time to debrief them. A short conversation after the session helps you understand the reasoning behind their groupings, not just the groupings themselves.

A few questions worth asking:

• Which cards were the most difficult to categorize?
• Which cards could belong to more than one group?
• Why did they leave certain cards unsorted?

Notice how these questions are open and neutral. A good debrief question invites participants to share their thinking without implying they did something wrong. Asking "I saw you struggling with this card, what happened?" signals judgment and puts participants on the defensive, which closes off honest answers. Asking "Which cards were the most difficult to categorize?" gives participants space to reflect freely.

Another way to get inside participants' thinking is to ask them to think aloud during the session itself. Hearing their reasoning in real time adds context that post-session questions can't always recover. In both cases, stay neutral throughout. Keep your body language open and avoid reacting to what participants say, whether positively or negatively.