MAXMaps: Creating Infographics and Concept Maps

Abstract

As early as the 1990s, American methodologists Miles and Huberman dealt with the topic of “visualizing social science research” and made many practical suggestions in their seminal book Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. The visualization tool MAXMaps builds on these principles and offers a wide range of possibilities for graphically representing data and interrelationships. Visualizations can serve different roles in the research process: they can be used both for exploratory and diagnostic purposes as well as for presentational purposes. Importantly, they also facilitate better communication with scientific audiences in research and with the wider public. Often the latter especially requires aesthetically pleasing visualization options.