Using Concept Mapping to Enhance the Research Interview

Abstract

In this paper the authors report the use of concept mapping as a means of summarizing interview transcripts in the study of the information-seeking behavior of employees in an organization. Concept mapping differs from traditional methods of textual coding for interview analysis by making underlying cognitive structures transparent and giving a focus to the sets of propositions by which individuals construct meaning. Concept map structure correlates with the perceived richness of interview data. They provide quick summaries of the interview quality and may help to identify topics for further probing to elicit new information. In this study rich interviews provide complex concept map structures, whereas less successful interviews provide simpler, spoke structures. Issues in using concept maps with research interviews are discussed, including use as a retrospective interview probe, as a check on evidence saturation, as a form of data display or as a form of creative coding.

Perceived critical success factors of electronic health record system implementation in a dental clinic context: An organisational management perspective

“…The comparison and discussion of emergent codes and their evolution to dominant categories [56,57] was also developed jointly, following the principle of consensus, to ensure interpretive agreement and best fito f coding to data. Concept maps were used to facilitate the process of identifying a unifying core category [58] consistent with the data, and integrated with the major categories that emerged from the analysis [54,59,60].…”

Promoting Meaningful Learning Through Create-Share-Collaborate

“…The brainstorming process by using mind map has many advantages. It helps students to develop understanding, to solve problem, to convey information, and as an assessment of students' understanding (Willis & Miertschin, 2006).The use of mind mapping tool is very useful in organizing and representing knowledge; facts, information and ideas can be grouped and linked to show the relationship and to visualise the overall ideas (Kinchin, Streatfield, & Hay, 2010).…”

Charting the elements of pedagogic frailty

“…The interviewer's job is then to prompt the interviewee with questions that will encourage him/her to interrogate his/her own knowledge structure as it develops on the page. This means that the interviewer no longer has to impose a structure on the linear narrative, but rather interpret the structure that has emerged from the dialogue (Kinchin, Streatfield and Hay, 2010). Whilst this process makes it less likely that the interviewer will impose an inappropriate knowledge structure based on his/her prior conceptions, the dialogue between the interviewer and interviewee does help to ensure that the structural grammar of the resulting maps is similar and negates the need for any topographical normalisation (sensu Buhman and Kingsbury, 2015) that is often required to facilitate comparison of maps when novice mappers interpret the concept mapping method in idiosyncratic ways.…”