Guide to Causal Mapping
Overview
What is Causal Map?
Videos
Support chat
Quizzes
Selected projects to date
License
I 1: Getting Started
Level 1 overview
📚 What is a causal map?
📚 What is causal mapping?
Causation - no longer a taboo
📚 Are Causal Map and causal mapping for you?
Prerequisites for using the app
Signing up
Accounts
Getting help
Tooltips
Blue info buttons
Help button
Support chat
Has someone shared a file with you?
You want to code your own data?
Your first 5 minutes with Causal Map
Quick tour of the app
Coding a file
Multiple statement selector
Viewing and analysing a file
The Dashboard
The other tabs
Interactive View
Print view
Copying your map as a vector image
🧪Tables
Presets
Level 1 quiz
II 2: Basic Coding
Level 2 overview
Making your own copy of a file
Creating a new file
How to upload and update your data – Overview
How to…
Preparing to code
The info panel
The memos panel
The Coding Panel: creating factors and links
Creating links in the app
About the factor label dropdown menus
Level 2 quiz
III 3: Basic analysis
Level 3 overview
Analysing a file
Background information about filters
The Dashboard
🧪Tables
Features common to all the tables
Main controls
Search
Sorting
🧪The Factors table
Factor memos
🧪The Mentions Table
🧪The Links Table
Fields
🧪The Statements Table
Fields
🧪The Sources Table
Fields
🧪The Questions Table
🧪The Closed Question Blocks Table
🧪The Metrics Table
Summary
What the metrics mean
Level 3 quiz
IV 📚4: Advanced coding
Level 4 overview
Collaborating at Causal Map
Overview
Details
Teams
The top menu
Current File Manager
Sharing and locking files
File memo
⚡ Making your own copy of a file
Restoring a previous version of your file
Uploading your data
Chat about this file
Uploading your data
Importing a simple, wide-format file
Adding additional cases with wide-format files
Standard format
Formatting a Standard Format file: The basics
Starting from a Word document
Uploading from PDFs
Making a basic statements table by hand
Uploading additional data
Providing additional data as additional fields in the statements table.
Uploading using separate source and question tables
Appending and fixing data (“roundtripping”)
General principles
Downloading a file
Uses for roundtripping
What if you have merged cells in your Excel file?
Importing your data: special cases
Importing from other software
Exporting for import into kumu.io
Exporting for import into NodeXL
Importing existing causal coding
Uploading closed question blocks
QuIP-specific: Uploading hybrid format data
Appending
hybrid data
The Factor Editor
Summary
Editing factor labels in the Factor Editor
Editing factors in the factor editor is disabled when you use any of these filters:
Split-recoding existing factors: Use the
Split
checkbox.
Advanced editing tips
The factor editor sidebar
More coding
Creating more than one link at a time
Chaining Links
Using memos and hashtags
Memos
Hashtags / link flags
Merging files
Alternative method
📚 Strength: Adding additional information like strength of a link in a causal map
Editing factors and links
📚 Plain coding
Summary
What the app does
Future
📚 Simplifying causal maps with hierarchical coding
Summary
Introduction
Interpretation of the ; separator
Semi-quantitative formulations work best
Higher-level factors are
generalisations
Hierarchical coding as a way of coping with a large number of factors
Themes
Re-usable factor components as text flags
Zooming out
📚 Tricky coding challenges
💻 Hierarchical factors in Causal Map
Creating labels
Relabelling
Additional calculated fields
Additional functionality in the Create & Edit Links panel
Quick tails
Search with nested factors
How can I view just the factors where I have applied hierarchical coding?
Viewing the top level labels
Simplifying (zooming out, and filtering out less frequent links and factors) in the app
Document coding score!
Data manager
Importing a codebook of factors
Quickfields
Summary
Alternative formulations
Quickfields are also ordinary flags
Syntax
More than one quick field
Permanence
Position in hierarchy
Current limitation
🧪Quickfields for links
Quickfields for factor labels versus ordinary hashtags for links
📚 Creating good factor labels
Actor-focused labels
Formulating factors as “semi-quantitative”
Relax! Use heterogeneous, “in-vivo” factor labels
QuIP specific: back-chaining
Examples of semi-quantitative factors
Opposed pairs of causal factors
Formulating factors as desirable
Examples of non-quantitative factors
Using flags in factor labels
Hanging flags
Flags for bundling factors
Intervention Flags
Outcome Flags
Coding your statements in context: referring to evidence from elsewhere
Consolidating and editing factor labels
Merging multiple factors into one
📚 Coding opposites
Summary
Combining opposites
Two-tone links
Filtering
Opposites coding within a hierarchy
Opposites coding within components of a hierarchy
Unpacking opposites
Level
V 5: Advanced analysis
Level 5 overview
Dashboard (advanced)
Using and sharing a view
⭐ Recommended views versus 🤵custom views
Complete views versus “Add-ons”
To edit the content (filter, tab etc) of an existing view:
Applying a view
For admins
🧪Tables - advanced
Creating your table
Print view
Formatting your table
Saving your table
Filters – overview
Restore Filters
Applying different filters
Find factors
Searching and filtering factors
Find statements, find links
Find links
Highlight only
Remove brackets
Excluding factors, links, statements, sources and questions with
notcontains
and
notequals
Trace paths
Bundle factors
Combine opposites
Filtering group by group
📚 Tracing paths
Summary
How to trace paths
🧪Removing unwanted links
Continuity and tracing threads
Summary
Tracing threads (aka tracing continuity)
Advanced diagnostic filter: Mark links for continuity (Print View only)
Advanced diagnostic filter: Show continuity
Summary
Showing continuity with arrowtypes
Showing continuity with colours
More about these metrics
Conditional formats
Conditional formatting for links
Conditional formatting for factors
Colour text
Label factors
Bundle links
Colours
Fixed colours
Changing discrete palettes
Calculated fields
Links table
Factors table
When combining opposites
Simple formats
Fixed colours for all links, factors and factor borders
Setting specific colours for links, factors and factor borders
Wrap factor/link labels
Cluster factors
Set print format
Layout
What is the logic behind the Causal Map filters?
Keeping it simple
The order of the filters with calculated fields
Autocorrect
Where do these islands come from in my map?
Analysing causal maps
Smart zooming
Quickfields: analysis
Summary
Uses
Quickfields are also ordinary flags
Hiding quickfields
Current limitation
🧪Quickfields for links
📚 Analysis: comparing maps between particular groups
Filtering by respondent group
Showing
distinctive maps
for each group
Filtering statements and groups for comparisons in Causal Map
Percentages
Surprise
📚 Clustering sources
Unfiltered clusters
Filtered clusters
The clustering algorithm
Bundling links by cluster
Finding many solutions at once
Recalculate fields
Interpreting your results
Top tips on coding
Level 5 quiz
VI The rest of the app
The Updates tab
The File Manager
Managing your subscription
VII 📚Spotlights
Spotlight
📚 Causal Mapping: Definitions
What is a causal map? What is causal mapping?
Summary
📚 Causal mapping for evaluators
Causal mapping for evaluators
Features which causal mapping approaches have in common
Causality
Modularity
Causal maps as a summary of qualitative data analysis of textual causal claims for each link
Causal mapping as a form of data collection
QuIP as a form of causal mapping
QuIP: explanations of changes do not themselves also have to be changes
Advantages of causal mapping
Induct
Discover
Distinguish
Present
Query
Quote
Reuse
When to use Causal Map
📚 Causal Mapping and Outcome Harvesting
📚 Context in causal mapping: how to code it
Using context in the Causal Map app
📚 Beware the transitivity trap
The transitivity trap
Not just a problem for causal mapping
Can we mitigate the trap with careful elicitation protocols?
Transitivity trap, or identity trap?
📚 Cases, variables and percentages in causal mapping?
📚 Different kinds of question chaining, with QuIP and ParEvo as illustrations
Four options with Fixed versus Variable question chaining
Single versus multiple
Future in past, past in future
Closed vs open questions
Going both ways: bi-directional chaining
Evaluation
📚 How to get to the shadow side: a problem with back-chaining
Concert example
Football example
One solution: pairs of initial questions
Solving the deeper problem
So what can we do?
Counterfactual worlds
Best solution?
Encoding the results
Conclusion
Finally …
📚 The last minute principle
📚 Causal maps, systems maps, what’s the difference? Does it matter?
What is the difference between a causal map and a systems map?
Are systems maps about systems?
📚 Coding time in causal mapping
Temporal features which can emerge without explicit coding of time
Temporal information attached to additional data
Recording temporal information in causal links
Recording temporal information in factor labels
Use a hashtag or flag
Use components in hierarchical coding
Use higher-level temporal components in hierarchical coding
But what if factor labels themselves express changes?
Lateness
Analysing and displaying the results of temporal coding
More about coding opposites
Reversible?
Combining opposites and strengths
Graded factors: differences of degree
Philosophical discursion: coding with propositions
Zero influences.
📚 Puzzles in causal mapping
Distinctive Groups
Quantity of Evidence
Joining rules
Does believing that X influences Y mean you have to believe that not-X causes not-Y? Causal mapping and counterfactuals.
Homogenity of paths
(non-) solution 1)
Solution 2)
Solution 3)
Solution 4)
Solution 5)
📚 Is one direction enough?
Showcase: how the Causal Map app has been used
Reports
VOSCUR
World Food Programme
Power to Change
Global Young Academy: Tracing the paths of GYA’s impact
IFRC Nepal Meta-evaluation
VIII Technical reference
Technical reference
Video list
Conventions
Formatting in this guide…
Screenshotting your maps
FAQs: Causal Map questions and troubleshooting
Logging in
Setting Up
Uploading and tweaking data
Coding
Known Bugs
QuIP questions
Downloads
📚 Glossary
Generic terminology for causal mapping
Filter reference
How Causal Map is hosted
Reports tab
Sample
Hierarchy
Opposites
Rankings
Differences - questions
Differences - sample
Differences - sample
Differences - question
Hashtags
Custom
Core tables in Causal Map
The main five tables and the most important fields / columns
Factors
Links
Statements
Sources
Questions
Special case: Closed question blocks
Medals
Using the Advanced Editor to create and edit filters
Keyboard shortcuts
General
Factor Editor and Advanced Editor
Line operations
Selection
Multicursor
Go to
Find/Replace
Folding
Other
Causal Map functions
Causal mapping with Excel
Using StorySurvey: admin interface
Explorer
Map
Project recodes
Project settings
Project answers
Project questions
Project recodes ace: The recodes advanced editor
Basic idea
Full hierarchy
Making changes
Hiding factors
Recoding a factor into itself
The contents of the editor
Searching
Features of Causal Map
Main features of Causal Map
Additional new features in Causal Map 2
Recent changes
Version 0.81, 9/8/2022
Importing a simple, wide-format file
Bundling links
Improved percentage labels when calculating surprise
Version 0.80, 10/6/2022
Smart zoom
Collaboration
The Dashboard
Reports Tab
Document coding score!
Copying your map as a vector image
Clustering sources
Quickfields
Plain coding
New palettes for conditional formatting
Quick tails
Search for main drivers and/or outcomes
Filtering print view of tables
Version 0.78
The Gallery
Continuity
Quickfields
Other features
Version 0.75, 27/12/2021
Print view: exporting and zooming
Label links
Highlight factors without removing other factors
Printout (for example, printout of quotes) option in tables
Path tracing
Mark links for continuity (Print View only)
Show continuity
Roundtripping with the
statements
table
IX 📚Final section
Acknowledgements
Appendix: Publications and links
Publications
Presentations
Longer blog posts
ResearchGate
Resources and apps
Bibliography of selected causal mapping approaches
References
Causal Map
Guide to Causal Mapping
Level
Now do the
quiz
to see if you’ve understood about advanced coding.