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The concept mapping process integrates a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. It consists of the following steps described by Trochim and colleagues (Burke et al., 2005; Trochim & Kane, 2005).

Step 1 – Preparation. In this planning step, decisions are made on the selection of participants (as mentioned previously) and the focal questions to guide the group discussion. These questions focus on eliciting participants' experience of the problem; view of its indicators and determinants; input on the relative importance of the determinants; and pathways linking the determinants and the problem. Additional questions are generated to prompt for clarification of ideas or words (e.g. What do you mean?), for delineation of pathways (e.g. Can you explain how these factors are related? Which occurred first and brought/led to the other?), and for reaching agreement on points of discussion (e.g. Does this reflect your thoughts?).

Step 2 – Generation of statements. In this step, selected participants are invited to attend a group session. The group moderator poses the questions prepared in Step 1, requests participants to generate statements that reflect their ideas or thoughts related to how they experience the problem with a special attention to its indicators (e.g. what changes in their condition are considered as indicative of the presence of the problem); what factors contribute to the occurrence, severity, or maintenance of the problem (e.g. What happened that led to the problem or what brought this problem?); and what are the consequences of the problem (e.g. How did the problem affect you?). The moderator and an assistant record the participants' responses on resources (e.g. projected computer screen, board, flipchart) visible to all group members. The responses are recorded verbatim in the form of statements as expressed by the participants. Once all statements are documented, the moderator engages the group in a review of the statements to identify duplicates, to recognize irrelevant ones, and to confirm a final list of statements about the presenting problem. The investigators review the transcript of the group session to verify that the generated list of statements accurately and comprehensively reflects the discussion. When several group sessions are held, the investigators consolidate the statements obtained in each session into a final list that consists of an exhaustive nonoverlapping account of all ideas or thoughts about the problem expressed by participants.

Step 3 – Structuring of statements. The goal of this step is to gain an understanding of the inter‐relationships among the ideas or thoughts generated in Step 2 that depict the target population's conceptualization of the problem. This is accomplished by having participants sort the statements into piles and rate the importance of statements in reflecting the problem. The sorting exercise is done individually by each participant. Each statement is printed on a card. Each participant is given the cards for all statements and instructed to put the cards into piles where each pile contains statements representing similar ideas, as perceived by the individual. No specific directions are given to do the sorting; rather, participants are given the freedom to arrange the statements in a way that is meaningful to them. However, they are requested to place each statement into one pile only, and not to put all statements into one pile. There is no restriction on the number of piles that can be generated. The data obtained with the sorting exercise are entered into a database for analysis. The database consists of a similarity matrix. The rows and columns of the matrix represent the statements, and the data in the cells represent the number of participants who place the pair of statements into the same pile. The similarity matrix is then subjected to multivariate analysis using multidimensional scaling technique and hierarchical cluster analysis. The analysis produces a map that locates nonoverlapping clusters of statements reflecting similar ideas (Trochim & Kane, 2005). In addition to sorting, the participants are asked to rate each statement in terms of its importance or relevance to the problem, on a five‐point rating scale. These data are also entered in a database and analyzed descriptively. The Concept System software can integrate the importance rating with the sorting data to indicate clusters of statements with varying levels of importance (Burke et al., 2005). The map is presented to the participants for discussion.

Step 4 – Representation. The aim of this step is to choose a final set of clusters that best captures the target population's conceptualization of the problem. To this end, the same or another group of participants representative of the target population are invited to a session that proceeds as follows:

1 Read the statements generated in Step 2 to familiarize the participants with the ideas or thoughts about the problem.

2 Show the map of clusters and explain that it illustrates the groupings of statements obtained with quantitative data analysis performed in Step 3.

3 Review the statements grouped into each cluster and elicit the participants' feedback about the cluster. Specifically, their agreement is sought on the extent to which statements organized in a cluster reflect a common idea. The participants are given the freedom to challenge the presented clusters and to regroup the statements into clusters that are meaningful to them.

4 Review all clusters located on the map to determine the total number of clusters that reflect conceptually distinct ideas about the problem.

5 Review the statements within and across clusters that were rated most important to identify the ideas of relevance to the problem.

If more than one session is held, then the investigators reconcile the results and integrate them into one comprehensive set of clusters, which is discussed with the participants in the next step of concept mapping.

Step 5 – Interpretation. This step focuses on labeling the clusters and exploring the pathways delineating the relationships among the clusters, as conceived by members of the target population. Again, the members are invited to a session and requested, as a whole group or as small groups of four to five, to carefully review the statements organized into a cluster in Step 4; to discuss the ideas captured in the statements; to identify the common theme underlying the ideas; and to come up with a label (i.e. short phrase or word) that best describes the theme. The labeling may be based on statements, within a cluster, rated as most important in Step 4. Once all themes are labeled, the moderator engages the group in a cognitive exercise to identify themes that reflect determinants, indicators, and consequences of the problem, and to diagram relationships among them. Specifically, participants are asked to indicate (1) what each labeled cluster or theme represents: a determinant of the problem, that is, something that takes place before and leads to the problem; an indicator of the problem, that is, a change in functioning or condition that indicates the presence of the problem; or a consequence of the problem, that is, the impact of the problem on well‐being or quality of life; and (2) which determinants are related to each other and to the problem and in what way. This exercise results in a concept map that includes concepts emerging from the labeled clusters and linking lines that delineate which concepts are related and in what way (illustrated with arrows linking related concepts), and a set of phrases that describe the proposed linkages among concepts.

The concept map guides the development of the theory of the problem and subsequently the design of interventions. Burke et al.'s (2005) work illustrates the application of concept mapping to explore women's perception of residential neighborhood factors that contribute to the experience of partner violence.