Using cognitive map to study a video on a homeless case study: an example

Using cognitive map to study a video on a homeless case study: an example

This video is "The difficult life of a Japanese homeless girl"

The following cognitive map is drawn to capture the main drivers and attributes of the homeless experience in this video case study:

There are three groups of items in the cognitive map:

Group 1: Drivers of homelessness

1. Unaffordable level of rental in Tokyo

2. Poor rural parents with limited support to offer

3. Family burden to pay for the girl's education school fee

4. The university degree gained not contribute to the girl's employability

5. Ashamed of seeking further support from parents

6. Experience poverty

Group 2: the topic under review

7. Go through homeless experience [on the street in Tokyo] 

Group 3: a set of related attributes of the homeless experience of a young girl in Tokyo.

8. Hardship from poor weather, e.g. rain

9. Not enough food to eat (a risk)

10. Sleep on the street

11. Availability of store shelter (sometimes)

12. Risk of harassment, especially toward young girls

13. Compete to collect empty bottles to earn some cash

14. Work for unstable part-time jobs 

It is useful for the researcher to also work on (i) the direct personal outcomes of the experienced homeless condition, which could be related to physical, and mental health, career prospect and employability, social networking and personal financial status and prospect, etc. and (ii) broader societal impacts.

Using the sociological imagination method, a researcher could work on transforming the personal issue of an individual (e.g. a single case of a homeless girl) into a public issue (in the form of a cognitive map). To do the imaginative leap (re: sociological imagination) from an individual issue to a public issue, the researcher needs to conduct additional exploratory investigation (e.g. desk research) so as carry out an informed imaginative leap.

A related reading: Example 2 on cognitive mapping.