Concept Mapping as an Alternative Approach for the Analysis of Open-Ended Survey Responses

TLDR

Concept mapping blends strengths of code‑based and word‑based text analysis while reducing their weaknesses. The article proposes concept mapping as an alternative method for analyzing open‑ended survey responses. Concept mapping is suited to open‑ended survey data and exploratory organizational research, and the paper illustrates its use with a detailed example. The study discusses reliability and validity concerns of concept mapping.

Abstract

This article presents concept mapping as an alternative method to existing code-based and word-based text analysis techniques for one type of qualitative text data—open-ended survey questions. It is argued that the concept mapping method offers a unique blending of the strengths of these approaches while minimizing some of their weaknesses. This method appears to be especially well suited for the type of text generated by open-ended questions as well for organizational research questions that are exploratory in nature, aimed at scale or interview question development, and/or developing conceptual coding schemes. A detailed example of concept mapping on open-ended survey data is presented. Reliability and validity issues associated with concept mapping are also discussed.