Concept Mapping for Planning And Evaluation

Concept mapping, as used by Kane (president and CEO, Concept Systems Incorporated, "a consulting and support company for social and behavioral researchers and managers") and Trochim (policy analysis and management, Cornell U.) refers to a process of representing ideas in pictures or maps that involves the steps of brainstorming, statement analysis and synthesis, unstructured sorting of statements, multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis, and the generation of numerous interpretable maps and data displays. Here they present the methodology of concept mapping as a means of generating a conceptual framework for planning and evaluation in social research. In order to show how the methodology can be applied in practice, they provide real-world examples from their experiences consulting for the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and state governments. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)