Mind Mapping – Use in Research Data

Challenge: Conduct a qualitative research on use of analytics in different industries. Those interviewed  were holding a key decision-making role or involved in implementation of analytics in their respective  organizations (in 10 countries). First do an exploratory exercise to analyze 5% of the interviews  conducted by using mind mapping techniques and assess the possible suitability of the technique for  conducting large volume qualitative data analysis.

Selection: The selection of the research methodology, case study, is the result of reviewing the  literature of numerous authors. Researcher needs to analyze large amounts of research data with  many interconnected topic areas and communication nuances that may prove challenging to analyze  and present holistically using the traditional linear thinking models. Want to study specifically  whether considering the technique as a viable and complementary approach for analyzing complex  qualitative data is advantageous

Application: In mind mapping research technique research participants are instructed to construct their  experiences graphically. This viable and complementary approach to the conventional data collection  methods (interviews) helps collect more detailed and reflective information from participants. This is  proven by the differences in the number of focus points identified by participants using and not using  the technique resulting in the conclusion that people who use the technique can generate more  ideas/focus points/concepts from the research than people who do not. Furthermore, research  participants who use mind maps to record information provide more in-depth responses by connecting  various concepts/ideas/focus points and providing examples from their experiences.

However, to use mind-mapping technique to analyze qualitative data (interviews), researcher reads the   transcribed interview and then underline the relevant information and identify the themes in that  transcript and then record the relevant interview data and themes on a mind map.

Insight: This study analyzed a sample using mind mapping to investigate the suitability of technique for  analyzing large amounts of research data. The answers to questions like how and why analytics is being  used in different functions across organization were clearly more insightful compared to traditional data  analysis techniques.

Approach: Mind mapping in research data is not very common. However, with pilot runs it proves that  the technique can be beneficial and yields deeper insights. Probably at the time of interview the persons  being interviewed should also be encouraged to draw some graphics linked different  concepts/ideas/points and identify the themes.

