A Cognitive Mapping Approach to Organizing the Participation of Multiple Actors in a Problem Structuring Process

Problem structuring methods lead to a better understanding of problems by proposing that individuals engage in a structured process of investigation of such elements as causal relationships, connected problems, and possible solutions. This paper first examines possible ways of organizing the participation of multiple decision- makers in the varying contexts of the problem structuring process. The paper presents an original methodology based on investigating the participants’ contributions with respect to the problem explored. This methodology uses cognitive mapping techniques and offers two kinds of support, the first justifying a specific division of the participant set into thematic subgroups and the second providing a basis for further exploration using different problem structuring methods.