An Analysis of Cognitive Mapping Method in the Qualitative Data Structuring of Organizational Studies

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Due to the difficulty of analysis of raw data, themes, and categories which is necessary in the process of formulating and constructing the theories in organizational science, the "cognitive mapping method" is introduced. This approach is designed as a method of understanding phenomena through people's senses making and eliciting the structure and content of the mental process with minimal interferences and potential biases of the researcher. This technique is a part of the interpretive paradigm and its basic concepts derived from George Kelly's "personal construction theory". Despite the importance of cognitive mapping method in structuring qualitative data, various aspects of this method is little known in our country, Iran, and rarely has been used in analyzing managerial and organizational studies. Therefore, this paper intends to introduce the cognitive mapping method, its origin, types, techniques, and implementations in the field of organizational studies. Moreover, for better understanding of the method, practical examples including cases and applications, and its strengths and weaknesses as well reliability and validity are explained in this paper.

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