Multi-level analysis strategy to make sense of concept maps

Beat Adrian Schwendimann
2014
Conference paper

Making sense of concept maps is an ongoing challenge for the concept mapping community. This paper introduces a multi-level analysis strategy by combining quantitative and qualitative methods to triangulate changes in students’ concept maps. Quantitative analysis includes overall, selected, and weighted propositional analysis using a knowledge integration rubric (Linn, 2000) as well as network analysis to describe changes in network density and prominence of selected concepts. Research suggests that scoring only selected propositions can be more sensitive to indicate conceptual change because it focuses on key concepts of the map. Qualitative analysis includes topographical analysis methods to describe the overall geometric structure of the map and an analysis of link types. This paper suggests that a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis methods can capture different aspects of concept maps and provide a rich description of changes in students' understanding of complex topics.

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Related concepts (3)

Concept

A Concept is defined as an abstract idea. It is understood to be a fundamental building block underlying principles, thoughts and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, psychology, and philosophy, and these disciplines are interested in the logical and psychological structure of concepts, and how they are put together to form thoughts and sentences.

Concept map

A concept map or conceptual diagram is a diagram that depicts suggested relationships between concepts. Concept maps may be used by instructional designers, engineers, technical writers, and others to organize and structure knowledge. A concept map typically represents ideas and information as boxes or circles, which it connects with labeled arrows, often in a downward-branching hierarchical structure but also in free-form maps. The relationship between concepts can be articulated in linking phrases such as "causes", "requires", "such as" or "contributes to".

Analysis

Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development. The word comes from the Ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (analysis, "a breaking-up" or "an untying;" from ana- "up, throughout" and lysis "a loosening"). From it also comes the word's plural, analyses.