Introducing Cognizer™: A comprehensive computer package for the elicitation and analysis of cause maps

Managerial and organizational cognition (MOC) researchers have issued a number of calls over the years for large-scale studies involving the mass application of causal mapping techniques. A number of important advances in the development of procedures for the systematic elicitation and comparison of cause maps mean that such work has been technically feasible for some time. However, due to a dearth of suitable supporting computer software, very few researchers to date have responded to this key challenge, vital to the longer-term viability of the MOC field. Building on innovations by Langfield-Smith and Wirth and Markóczy and Goldberg, the authors report on the development of Cognizer™, a comprehensive computer package designed to meet the requirements of researchers looking to elicit and compare large numbers of maps on a longitudinal or cross-sectional basis. The principal features of Cognizer are illustrated using a cross-sectional data set comprising 200 cause maps from five organizations.