Unofficial Guide to Creating Composite Maps of Stakeholder Mental Models with 3CM and Anthropac
Conceptual content cognitive mapping, or 3CM, is a method for revealing people’s mental models on a topic of interest. I recently used 3CM to study stakeholder perceptions of the relationship between water and the regional economy in the Upper Floridian Aquifer region of Florida and Georgia. The free software package Anthropac greatly speeds up the process of compiling stakeholders' individual mental models into composite maps representing the perspectives of stakeholder groups, such as producers and environmentalists; however, the lack of a “getting started” guide creates a somewhat prohibitive learning curve. After digging through manuals, websites, and journal articles, I compiled all of the necessary information to carry out my research. Now I’ll save you the trouble with this unofficial getting started guide.
Step 2: Download and Install Software
Step 3: Create an Anthropac Data File
Step 4: Generate a Map of Association Between Terms