Concept Mapping involves the following six general steps:

1. Prepare: The facilitator works with the initial contact(s) to decide who will participate in the process, the conceptual focus for the map, and the schedule. Once these are decided, the facilitator needs to prepare the software for use in the process.

2. Generate: The participants generate a large number of statements relevant to the focus, usually by brainstorming. These statements are either entered into the program while the participants are brainstorming or after the fact.

3. Structure: Each participant sorts the statements into similar categories and rates each statement on one or more relevant scales (e.g., for importance). Depending on the setup, each participant may sort and rate the data directly on the computer or may do so manually using sorting cards and rating sheets from the program.

4. Compute Map: The facilitator analyzes the sorting and rating information using The Concept System Core Program, examines the initial maps that are generated, and prepares them for interpretation by the group.

5. Interpret the Maps: The facilitator helps the participants examine the maps and understand what they mean. The computer can be used interactively with the group to interpret the maps.

6. Use the Maps: The facilitator helps the participants use the maps for the task at hand. One of the most common uses is to perform pattern matching to explore consensus among groups or to examine expectations and outcomes.

Throughout this Help file, for each of the six general steps in the Concept Mapping process, we will show you two parallel processes--the group process and the computer software steps--so that you can always see how the computer program is used with the participant group.