Concept mapping workshop on design cognition measurement and analysis

WORKSHOP AIM

This workshop aimed to explore current viewpoints and approaches to design cognition measurement and analysis, and identify the challenges central to advancing the field. The views of field experts were elicited through the method of concept mapping.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

A total of 19 design cognition researchers participated in the workshop. A further two researchers completed the concept mapping activity independently outside of the workshop. This dataset contains the data generated by all 21 participants.

The views of participants were elicited through a concept mapping activity. This was split into four stages, each focusing on a different aspect of the topic: (1) the state of the art in the field; (2) the near and medium term challenges; (3) ways forward for addressing these challenges; and (4) the long term (100 years) vision for the field.

In stages 1-3, participants were asked to produce a concept map describing the elements they perceived to be relevant to the topic and any interdependencies among them, and to highlight the most important elements/relationships with ‘*’. In stage 4, they were asked to write down a single theme that they believed will be a defining issue for the field in the next 100 years.

Workshop delegates completed the activity in self-selected groups of 4-5 based on career stage (early career, mid career, and senior). The additional two participants who completed the activity outside of the workshop did so independently.

The concept maps produced in each stage by each group/individual were photographed, and the photographs used as the basis for coding to identify common and diverging themes for each topic explored.

DATASET STRUCTURE

The dataset is organised into folders and files as outlined below. The following abbreviations are used in file names to denote participants:

EC1 – early career group 1 in workshop (4 participants)
EC2 – early career group 2 in workshop (5 participants)
MidC – mid career group in workshop (5 participants)
Sen – senior career group in workshop (5 participants)
Res1 (sen) – independent participant 1, senior career stage
Res2 (midC) – independent participant 2, mid career stage

Folder 1 – Images of concept maps:

Contains 4 sub-folders of images of the concept maps produced by each group/individual above during each stage of the mapping activity. Folders are name according to the mapping activity stage.

Folder 2 – Coding scheme developed from concept maps:

Contains the codes (i.e. key themes) defined through iterative interpretation of the concept maps produced by participants in each activity stage. Coding was conducted using the NVivo software package (https://www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo-qualitative-data-analysis-software/home), version 11. The set of codes defined for each stage of the mapping activity are saved in separate .csv files.

Folder 3 – Concept map coding

Contains a .csv file for each stage of the mapping activity that presents the coding results for the topic explored. Each .csv file shows: (i) the frequency with which each code was applied across the maps produced by different groups/individuals (‘coding frequency’); and (ii) whether or not each code was identified in the maps produced by early career groups (‘EC1’ and ‘EC2’), the mid career group (‘MidC’), the senior career group (Sen), and the two independent participants (‘Res1’ and ‘Res2’). This data indicates common and unique themes explored by the participants.

DATA ANONYMISATION

No personal data is included in this dataset. All participants voluntarily participated in the concept mapping activity.

DATASET OWNERSHIP

The dataset is owned by the University of Strathclyde.