Learn the Basics

• What is tree testing?
• When should I conduct a tree test?
• How many participants do I need for a tree test study?

Terms to know

• Tree = A tree is the overall structure of navigation you are asking the participants to navigate through.
• Nodes = Nodes are the different categories that you are organizing in your tree structure. Nodes can be placed under specific categories to make subcategories.
• Tasks = A task is the flow that you want the participant to go through to test the effectiveness of your defined categories. An example of a task is "You would like to look for a pair of winter boots for your 9 year old daughter. What category would you choose to find the boots under?" In a tree test, you define the correct answer for the participant to find, so there is a right and wrong answer.
• Follow up questions = Once a participant has made a decision on the task, a follow up question is an optional question to help gather feeling responses from the participant. For follow up questions, there are no right or wrong answers.
• Child = A child is a subcategory within a larger category (for example: "Women's boots" is the child to "Boots")
• Parent = A parent is the larger category that houses the child subcategories (for example: "Dairy" is the parent to "Yogurt")
• Sibiling = A sibling is a category or subcategory that is at the same level as another category or subcategory (for example: "Boots" is a sibling category of "Sandals"). This is only used when compared to a different category, as a sibling can also be a parent or a child.
• Total success = Total success is the overall success rate of each task across all participants. The higher the number the better the score.
• Directness = Directness is the percentage of participants that select the correct answer without backtracking. Backtracking means that participants went down a specific path, but realized it was incorrect.
• Task success = A task success is defined when a participant successfully chooses the correct answer on a task.
• Task failure = A task failure is defined when a participant chooses the wrong answer on a task.
• First click = A first click is the very first node that a participant clicks to move forward. This helps identify the thought process of the participant on how they would categorize the options provided to them.