Cognitive-affective maps extended logic: Proposing tools to collect and analyze attitudes and belief systems.

Abstract

Cognitive-affective maps extended logic is a software package that includes three tools designed for the collection and analysis of cognitive-affective maps (CAMs). CAMs are an innovative research method used to identify, visually represent, and analyze belief systems or any semantic knowledge. By instructing participants on how to draw a CAM, they can create a visual depiction of a belief system that illustrates their attitudes, thoughts, and emotional associations regarding a specific topic. CAMs can be considered as networks enabling participants to freely draw concepts and illustrate the affective (emotional) evaluations and connections between them. To simplify the creation of CAM studies, we first developed an administrative panel for researchers which enables them to set up CAM studies without any coding. Second, to draw CAMs, a tool was developed to give participants the opportunity to create a visual depiction of their own belief system regarding a specific topic. Third, the resulting data can be analyzed using the respective data analysis app, which tracks each analysis step to make the analysis process fully transparent. As a time-efficient approach, CAMs can be used to inform exploratory research questions, like the conceptualization of surveys, or be valuable as an independent method. The tools are available under a free and open-source license. Further information, code, and comprehensive documentation are available at https://drawyourminds.de .