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Guide to Causal Mapping

Table of contents

  • 1 Overview
  • πŸ’» Getting Started
  • 2 Prerequisites for using the app
  • 3 Your first 5 minutes with Causal Map
  • 4 Signing up and signing in at Causal Map
  • 5 Quick tour of the app
  • 6 The top menu
  • 7 The Gallery
  • 8 The File Manager
  • 9 The Statement Navigator
  • 10 The Coding Panel: creating factors and links
  • 11 Interactive View
  • 12 Print view
  • 13 All the tables
  • 14 FAQs: Causal Map questions and troubleshooting
  • 15 Top tips if you have just starting coding
  • 16 Introduction to filters
  • 17 How to upload and update your data – Overview
  • 18 πŸ“š Glossary
  • 19 Video list
  • Introduction
  • 20 Just received an invite to view something in Causal Map?
  • 21 Moving to Causal Map 2 from Causal Map 1
  • 22 πŸ“š Are Causal Map and causal mapping for me?
  • 23 Features of Causal Map
  • 24 Collaborating at Causal Map
  • πŸ’» The rest of the app
  • 25 The Factor Editor
  • 26 The Mentions Table
  • 27 The Factors table
  • 28 The Links Table
  • 29 The Bundles Table
  • 30 The Statements Table
  • 31 The Sources Table
  • 32 The Questions Table
  • 33 The Closed Question Blocks Table
  • 34 The Metrics Table
  • 35 Data manager
  • 36 πŸ§ͺGamification
  • 37 The Updates tab
  • πŸ“šπŸ’» Creating maps
  • 38 πŸ“š Creating good factor labels
  • 39 Editing factors and links
  • 40 πŸ“š Simplifying causal maps with hierarchical coding
  • 41 πŸ’» Hierarchical factors in Causal Map
  • 42 πŸ“š Strength: Adding additional information like strength of a link in a causal map
  • 43 πŸ“š Coding opposites
  • 44 πŸ“š Plain coding
  • 45 πŸ“š Tricky coding challenges
  • πŸ’»Filters
  • 46 Filters – overview
  • 47 πŸ“š Tracing paths and calculating robustness
  • 48 Conditional formats
  • 49 Simple formats
  • 50 πŸ§ͺ Standard formats
  • 51 What is the logic behind the Causal Map filters?
  • 52 Analysing causal maps
  • 53 Smart zooming
  • 54 Continuity and tracing threads
  • 55 Quickfields
  • 56 πŸ“š Analysis: comparing maps between particular groups
  • 57 πŸ“š Clustering sources
  • 58 Recalculate fields
  • 59 Interpreting your results
  • πŸ’» Uploading and updating data
  • 60 Core tables in Causal Map
  • 61 Uploading your data
  • 62 Uploading additional data
  • 63 Appending and fixing data (β€œroundtripping”)
  • 64 Importing your data: special cases
  • 65 Merging files
  • 66 Importing a codebook of factors
  • πŸ“šπŸ’»Spotlights
  • 67 πŸ“š Causal Mapping: Definitions
  • 68 πŸ“š Causal mapping for evaluators
  • 69 πŸ“š Causal Mapping and Outcome Harvesting
  • 70 πŸ“š Context in causal mapping: how to code it
  • 71 πŸ“š Beware the transitivity trap
  • 72 πŸ“š Cases, variables and percentages in causal mapping?
  • 73 πŸ“š Different kinds of question chaining, with QuIP and ParEvo as illustrations
  • 74 πŸ“š How to get to the shadow side: a problem with back-chaining
  • 75 πŸ“š The last minute principle
  • 76 πŸ“š Causal maps, systems maps, what’s the difference? Does it matter?
  • 77 πŸ“š Coding time in causal mapping
  • 78 More about coding opposites
  • 79 πŸ“š Puzzles in causal mapping
  • 80 πŸ“š Is one direction enough?
  • 81 Showcase: how the Causal Map app has been used
  • πŸ’» Technical reference
  • 82 Appendix: Filter reference
  • 83 How Causal Map is hosted
  • 84 Conventions
  • 85 Screenshotting your maps
  • 86 Reports tab
  • 87 Using the Advanced Editor to create and edit filters
  • 88 Keyboard shortcuts
  • 89 Causal Map functions
  • 90 Causal mapping with Excel
  • 91 Recent changes
  • πŸ“šπŸ’» Final section
  • 92 Acknowledgements
  • 93 Appendix: Publications and links
  • References

View book source

7 The Gallery

The Gallery loads as the app loads and gives you the opportunity to jump to another file and/or filter before loading the file which was already loading.

You can use it as a dashboard from which you can check out and revisit your previous work and get ideas from others.

You can also reach this dialog by pressing the 🏠 icon in the top menu, or with the key combination Alt+q.

The Gallery contains the history of all the filters you used in the current session as well as filters from shortlinks saved by you or other users. Search to find the filters you need. For example, if you want to get some ideas for using the combine opposites filter, start to type β€œcombine opposites” in the Search box on the left or (if you want to be more precise) in the search box above the filter column. This will show you examples from your own history or from when others have saved a filter in different projects. Then you can either load just that filter into your current file or go to see how that filter works in the file where it was used.

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7.0.1 Action buttons

  • Load & File: load this file and then load this filter
  • Load: Apply this filter to the current file.
    • Sometimes the filter might need some tweaking, especially if it refers to specifics like factor names or features of sources like β€œlocation” which are not the same in the two files.
  • Append: Add this filter at the bottom of the existing filters
  • Copy: Copy the link and filter for pasting into a document.
  • Hide: Hide this row in future from this table (the links will not be deleted). You may want to use this button to clear unused shortlinks from your table. It has no effect on history filters.

7.1 πŸ§ͺ The new dashboard (documentation is work in progress)

The dashboard when the app loads.

You can also reach this dialog by pressing the πŸ… icon at top right, or with the key combination Alt+q.

The dashboard contains shortlinks saved by you and other users.

7.1.1 The Recommended and Custom shortlinks

Recommended filters can only be added / edited by admins. They are not related to specific files but should be applicable to almost any file. (Though the shortlink does store the information about what file it was created in.) . If you send someone a Recommended shortlink and they click on it, they are always taken to the standard file.

The Custom shortlinks are related to the current file. So they might for example contain filters which refer to factors or fields specific to the current file. If you send someone a Custom shortlink and they click on it, they are taken to that same file.

7.1.2 Actions

Click on a shortlink to load the associated filters into the current file.

7.1.2.1 To change the content (filter, tab etc) of an existing filter:

Set up the content the way you want it in the app, so it looks exactly the way it should when someone in the future clicks on the link. Then go to the filter which you want to update and press the edit button:

image-20220616161111194

In the modal dialog which opens, make sure you check this box. You can optionally change the title too.

image-20220616161209527

If all you want to do is change the title, make sure the checkbox is not checked.

7.1.2.2 To delete an existing filter:

Simply press the red X. There is no warning, so be careful!

7.2 View 1226: Overview

7.2.0.1 To delete an existing filter:

Simply press the red X. There is no warning, so be careful!

7.3 View 1227: Overview and smart zoom

7.3.0.1 To delete an existing filter!

Simply press the red X. There is no warning, so be careful!

6 The top menu
8 The File Manager

On this page

  • 7 The Gallery
    • 7.0.1 Action buttons
  • 7.1 πŸ§ͺ The new dashboard (documentation is work in progress)
    • 7.1.1 The Recommended and Custom shortlinks
    • 7.1.2 Actions
  • 7.2 View 1226: Overview
  • 7.3 View 1227: Overview and smart zoom
  • View source
  • Edit this page

"Guide to Causal Mapping" was written by Steve Powell1, Fiona Remnant2, James Copestake3, Hannah Mishan4, Rebekah Arvard5, Samuel Goddard6. It was last built on 2022-06-17.

This book was built by the bookdown R package.