Managing Complex Psychoanalytic Research Projects Applying Mapping Techniques – Using the Example of the EDIG Study

Abstract

Science and research today are embedded in the development of a knowledge society, implying that scientifically based knowledge gains more and more importance in our society. As the demand for scientifically based knowledge and progress is continually growing, and science poses new risks for society and raises new questions, the need for regulating and controlling scientific activities has grown stronger. This development towards a stronger political and societal impact on research implies that scientists nowadays not only have to meet specific quality criteria, formulated by the scientific communities themselves, but also external criteria formulated by politicians, governments and other third-party funders. The EDIG study, funded by the European Commission, exemplifies this development towards increasingly complex research in a globalized context. In the EDIG project multiple research questions were investigated, applying a broad spectrum of research instruments and methodologies, while engaging in an interdisciplinary dialogue, in order to meet external and internal quality criteria. Graphical tools such as mind maps, flowcharts or concept maps may provide a useful instrument for researchers to meet the complexities and endeavours of current research projects. Such mapping techniques not only support the user in identifying and retrieving knowledge but they may also be used as an externalized memory. In constructing a map, the researcher is forced to reflect systematically on his/her knowledge, to elaborate on it and thereby identify possible knowledge gaps. By making the user’s cognitions explicit, knowledge is more easily accessible to the researcher as well as his/her team members, thus enhancing communication processes as well as intersubjective transparency.