Concept maps were developed by Joseph Novak at Cornell University in the 1960s. Novak used concept maps to organize and represent information and he believed that school children could use these maps to actively derive meaning from information taught in the classroom. Outside of education, concept mapping has traditionally been used in arts-based disciplines, such as design and advertising, to spark creativity, document process and record ideas. Concept mapping has been recently embraced by qualitative researchers who are looking for ways to deepen understanding, involve participants in the making of meaning and manage large data sets.
Concept mapping works well as both a data collection tool and a method of data analysis. It is a technique that can be used with both individuals and groups. Some researchers believe that concept maps are a more accurate representation of the way people think, because they can express the interconnectedness and hierarchy of ideas. Concept maps promote unconscious, holistic understanding and help researchers stay focused on meaning. They also help to reduce and manage the massive amounts of text-oriented data collected in a qualitative inquiry.
Some researchers are natural narrators and find it challenging to record ideas in a visual form. Another limitation of concept mapping is the researcher's tendency to refine the maps to make them more coherent or visually pleasing, which may change their meaning and decrease their value. Conceptual mapping results in complex diagrams that may be difficult to decipher. Concept maps should not replace textual analysis but rather complement it.
Concept maps can be used at all stages of a qualitative research project. Research team members can use concept mapping at the start of a project to generate ideas about research methods and focus. Concept mapping can be a form of data collection, either on its own or in combination with other methods. Researchers can make pictorial representations of interview content to assist in qualitative data analysis. Maps of individual interviews can be shown to respondents for feedback, while macro maps can be generated by the whole research team and used to aid in the analysis and interpretation of an entire data set. Concept maps can also be used to present findings to an audience.
Because they capture the fast-firing and creative workings of the brain, concept maps are usually quickly drawn by hand. The drawing may be subsequently refined to include colors and symbols and to look more coherent to an outsider. Concepts are written inside circles or rectangles with the broader, more holistic concepts usually placed at the top of the map. Relationships between different ideas or concepts are drawn using lines—arrows are optional. Hand-drawn concept maps can be translated into digital form using word processing software or special concept-mapping software.