Qualitative data analysis with the cognitive mapping technique

The following are the 5 main steps involved in a qualitative data analysis with the cognitive mapping technique:



Step 1: gather some secondary data, e.g., newspaper articles and magazine articles, on a specific topic, such as housing affordability, contemporary finance, and work-life balance, etc.

Step 2: Construct a table to list a set of main points from the secondary data. Need to provide clear referencing. The following table template(table 1) can be used:

Table 1: Main points on the topic  of XXX from newspapers and referencing

Main points from the crisis management literature	Referencing
Point 1:
Point 2:

Step 3: Study the points and come up with a coding scheme with cognitive map variables; use the set of cognitive map variables to group the main points collected in Table 1. Produce a table for that. The following table template (table 2) can be used:

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1:	Point 5:  Point 6:  Point 9:
Variable 2:	Point 3:  Point 10:

Step 4: Link up the cognitive map variables in a plausible way to form a cognitive map.

Step 5: Study the cognitive map structure and brainstorm on scenario planning and policy evaluation review, etc..


Concluding remarks
The whole exercise is about the same as a cognitive mapping-based literature review exercise. In essence, it is a subjective (interpretive) and systemic exercise on a set of subjective ideas using the cognitive mapping technique. This technique could be used for personal or group intellectual learning as well as for dissertation project works. Lastly, this qualitative data analysis exercise could benefit from a cognitive mapping-based literature review (CMBLR) exercise on the same topic under study, e.g., in the coding construction task (step 3) and in the cognitive map construction task (step 4) and review task (step 5). [A CMBLR exercise exclusively studies academic readings, e.g. academic articles and textbooks.]




References

1. ebook on cognitive mapping v1
2. ebook on cognitive mapping v2