Measuring Systems Thinking Using Cognitive Mapping

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MEASURING SYSTEMS THINKING USING COGNITIVE MAPPING:

Jason Markham Masters Thesis Student, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND, jason.markham@nzdf.mil.nz

ABSTRACT

This paper reports a pilot study into the use of two measurement techniques for the use of systems thinking by managers: interview coding and cognitive mapping emergent properties. The purpose of this pilot study was to identify potential for further use of both techniques. The study employs content analysis to develop a codification framework for the three thinking skills that managers use to specify a complex problem: “dynamic thinking”, “system-as-cause thinking” and “forest thinking” as defined by Richmond (2000). The study indicated a moderate degree of systems thinking skill amongst managers, some of whom surprisingly demonstrated a mixture of systems and traditional thinking. Interview coding and cognitive mapping would be better used as complementary rather than alternative measurement techniques for measuring systems thinking. This paper recommends improvements to the codification framework and elicitation process used in this pilot study prior to further use.

The attached pdf is the copy submitted for review on 1 March 2006 as a paper for the Nijmegen System Dynamics conference in July 2006: Media: Two_Techniques_for_Measuring_Systems_Thinking.pdf

Thanks to the research colloquium attendees for their feedback.