Reflection - Mind Mapping: A Master's Thesis

Challenge  One of the biggest challenges throughout my academical career was my ambitious Master's thesis. I  had studied German language and psychology so far and was thinking about doing a doctorate at an  interdisciplinary research center. Since I have always been fascinated with the creative part of writing  literature and also creativity as a specifically human cognitive process, I wanted to gain insights into  what factors might influence and also enhance those creative processes in our minds.      Unfortunately, there was no expert on this topic available at my university, and so I chose to use my  Master's thesis to gather and organize information on this subject myself in order to get a solid basis  for the experimental studies I was planning to do in my dissertation. As I began to screen the  literature on the topic of creativity, I was totally overwhelmed with the magnitude of different  approaches and even definitions of what had been examined so far.     At first, I was totally lost in this ocean of information. But I also did not like to abandon my holistic  and interdisciplinary approach because I saw a lot of problems in the current mere psychological  research on creativity, which originated in a too narrow focus and/or even misunderstandings  because of the different definitions. So my biggest challenge was to get a hold of lots and lots of  different data on the subject,  to evaluate it and then organize it into structures and relations which  would be more easily accessible.       Selection  It was simply not possible to organize the knowledge into lists or tables, since it was too complex and  there were a lot of different relations involved, e.g. hierarchic, causal or contradictory.  I chose Mind  Mapping as a tool for it has all the qualities I needed: In any kind of process it helps you to get from  the tricky 'What is?' stage into the 'What if?' stage, since you are able to depict any kind of relation  and you can also visualize it as freely and creatively as you need it onto the blank paper.        Application  In fact, I did not begin to sketch just one Mind Map, I began by using my comments on the different  kinds of literature, e.g. introductory articles on philosophical considerations or on experimental  psychology, to sketch reams of Mind Maps. For example, one might have depicted all different  elements that were involved in definitions of creativity, another one all kinds of cognitive processes  that are associated with creative cognition. But of course, these were very small elements of the  whole thesis and the most difficult part was to connect all these pieces to a big puzzle.     Since I had no work group available but were more a one-woman army myself, I was not able to use  the tool of Mind Mapping correctly: It was simply too much data, so I could not get the help of a  diverse team for revising and clustering all the material. Instead, I tried to take a lot of pauses and to  get some sleep before facing the most challenging problems for a second time. Looking at the  structures and dependencies with a fresh mind was a very powerful tool to balance the lack of other  people's opinions.       Insight  First of all, the Mind Mapping itself was a very useful process. It was so very helpful to make these  small or even bigger sketches, since it was also very easy to try out one approach after another and

to revise them again and again. Apparently, it changed my whole working process by making it far  more flexible and more accessible to self-criticism.   When the magnitude of data is overwhelming one can easily get lost and therefore try to use simple  solutions to in fact very complex problems. The process of Mind Mapping was the best support for  my very ambitious thesis. For example, it made me realize that I needed a central theme that could  guide my readers through the thesis and also that it was important to use as much visualizations as  possible.  In my opinion Mind Mapping is the best tool to control large amounts of different information and is  crucial for any design process or even project management.      Approach  Well, I won't have to write another Master's thesis in my whole life but I am pretty sure that I will use  the Mind Mapping tool many times. Hopefully, I won't be in the position of a stand-alone person in  the work place anymore, so I am eager to use the tool in the correct way by getting in touch with  other people's opinions. Nevertheless, sometimes those Mind Mapping or brain storming processes  can be very time consuming, especially when applied to teamwork. Accordingly, there should be  careful consideration involved when to use Mind Mapping. Sometimes it might be best to let one  person handle the data and to let him use other tools for communicating it, e.g. storytelling and  visualization.


Reflection - Mind Mapping : A Master 's Thesis Challenge One of the biggest challenges throughout my academical career was my ambitious Master 's thesis . I had studied German language and psychology so far and was thinking about doing a doctorate at an interdisciplinary research center . Since I have always been fascinated with the creative part of writing literature and also creativity as a specifically human cognitive process , I wanted to gain insights into what factors might influence and also enhance those creative processes in our minds . Unfortunately , there was no expert on this topic available at my university , and so I chose to use my Master 's thesis to gather and organize information on this subject myself in order to get a solid basis for the experimental studies I was planning to do in my dissertation . As I began to screen the literature on the topic of creativity , I was totally overwhelmed with the magnitude of different approaches and even definitions of what had been examined so far . At first , I was totally lost in this ocean of information . But I also did not like to abandon my holistic and interdisciplinary approach because I saw a lot of problems in the current mere psychological research on creativity , which originated in a too narrow focus and/or even misunderstandings because of the different definitions . So my biggest challenge was to get a hold of lots and lots of different data on the subject , to evaluate it and then organize it into structures and relations which would be more easily accessible . Selection It was simply not possible to organize the knowledge into lists or tables , since it was too complex and there were a lot of different relations involved , e.g. hierarchic , causal or contradictory . I chose Mind Mapping as a tool for it has all the qualities I needed : In any kind of process it helps you to get from the tricky ' What is ? ' stage into the ' What if ? ' stage , since you are able to depict any kind of relation and you can also visualize it as freely and creatively as you need it onto the blank paper . Application In fact , I did not begin to sketch just one Mind Map , I began by using my comments on the different kinds of literature , e.g. introductory articles on philosophical considerations or on experimental psychology , to sketch reams of Mind Maps . For example , one might have depicted all different elements that were involved in definitions of creativity , another one all kinds of cognitive processes that are associated with creative cognition . But of course , these were very small elements of the whole thesis and the most difficult part was to connect all these pieces to a big puzzle . Since I had no work group available but were more a one - woman army myself , I was not able to use the tool of Mind Mapping correctly : It was simply too much data , so I could not get the help of a diverse team for revising and clustering all the material . Instead , I tried to take a lot of pauses and to get some sleep before facing the most challenging problems for a second time . Looking at the structures and dependencies with a fresh mind was a very powerful tool to balance the lack of other people 's opinions . Insight First of all , the Mind Mapping itself was a very useful process . It was so very helpful to make these small or even bigger sketches , since it was also very easy to try out one approach after another and to revise them again and again . Apparently , it changed my whole working process by making it far more flexible and more accessible to self - criticism . When the magnitude of data is overwhelming one can easily get lost and therefore try to use simple solutions to in fact very complex problems . The process of Mind Mapping was the best support for my very ambitious thesis . For example , it made me realize that I needed a central theme that could guide my readers through the thesis and also that it was important to use as much visualizations as possible . In my opinion Mind Mapping is the best tool to control large amounts of different information and is crucial for any design process or even project management . Approach Well , I wo n't have to write another Master 's thesis in my whole life but I am pretty sure that I will use the Mind Mapping tool many times . Hopefully , I wo n't be in the position of a stand - alone person in the work place anymore , so I am eager to use the tool in the correct way by getting in touch with other people 's opinions . Nevertheless , sometimes those Mind Mapping or brain storming processes can be very time consuming , especially when applied to teamwork . Accordingly , there should be careful consideration involved when to use Mind Mapping . Sometimes it might be best to let one person handle the data and to let him use other tools for communicating it , e.g. storytelling and visualization .