• Guide to Causal Mapping
  • Overview
    • What is Causal Map?
    • Videos
    • Support chat
    • Quizzes
    • Selected projects to date
    • License
  • 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
  • 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
  • Editing factors and links (basic)
  • 📚 Creating good factor labels (basic)
    • Actor-focused labels
      • “Semi-quantitative’ labels
      • Examples of semi-quantitative factors
    • Using flags in factor labels
  • Level 2 quiz
  • 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
  • 📚4: Advanced coding
  • Level 4 overview
  • Collaborating at Causal Map
    • Overview
      • Details
    • Teams
  • The top menu
    • Current File Manager / Sharing
      • 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
    • 🧪New unified interface for uploading
    • 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 multiple PDFs and word-processing documents (doc, docx, odt)
      • 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 (“links only”)
    • Uploading closed question blocks
      • QuIP-specific: Uploading hybrid format data
    • Appending hybrid data
  • Merging files
    • Alternative method
  • 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
      • Link flags (aka Hashtags)
  • Ellipses
    • Coding your statements in context: referring to evidence from elsewhere
  • 📚 Strength: Adding additional information like strength of a link in a causal map
  • Editing factors and links (advanced)
  • 📚 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 📚 Coding opposites
    • Summary
    • Combining opposites
      • Two-tone links
      • Filtering
    • Opposites coding within a hierarchy
    • Opposites coding within components of a hierarchy
    • Unpacking opposites
    • 🧪The border colours and how to override them
  • 📚 Tricky coding challenges
  • Document coding score!
  • Data manager
  • 📚 Creating good factor labels (advanced)
    • QuIP specific: back-chaining
    • Opposed pairs of causal factors
    • Formulating factors as desirable
    • Examples of non-quantitative factors
      • Hanging flags
      • Flags for bundling factors
      • Intervention Flags
      • Outcome Flags
    • Consolidating and editing factor labels
      • Merging multiple factors into one
  • Level 4 quiz
  • 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
  • Filters – overview
    • 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
  • 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?
  • Filters: tips
    • Restoring previous filter
  • 📚 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
  • Quickfields: analysis
    • Summary
    • Uses
    • Quickfields are also ordinary flags
    • Hiding quickfields
    • Current limitation
    • 🧪Quickfields for links
  • 📚 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
      • 🧪Dashed 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
  • Smart zooming
  • 📚 Clustering sources
    • Filtered clusters
    • The clustering algorithm
    • Bundling links by cluster
    • Finding many solutions at once
  • Recalculate fields
  • Interpreting your results
  • Tables - advanced
    • Creating your table
    • Print view
    • Formatting your table
    • Saving your table
  • Top tips on coding
  • Level 5 quiz
  • The rest of the app
  • The Updates tab
  • The File Manager
  • Managing your subscription
  • 📚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
  • 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: for survey editor
    • Explorer
    • Map
    • Project recodes
    • Project settings
    • Project answers
    • Project questions
    • Project recodes ace: The recodes advanced editor
      • Basic idea
  • Features of Causal Map
    • Main features of Causal Map
    • Additional new features in Causal Map 2
  • Recent changes
    • Version 0.85, 1/12/2022
    • Tables
      • Removing unwanted links
    • Quickfields for links
    • 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
  • 📚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

📚 Tricky coding challenges

Here is a spreadsheet with some tricky coding challenges