title: ConceptBuilder: an open-source software tool for measuring, depicting, and quantifying causal models.
abstract: Measurements of people's causal and explanatory models are frequently key dependent variables in investigations of concepts and categories, lay theories, and health behaviors. A variety of challenges are inherent in the pen-and-paper and narrative methods commonly used to measure such causal models. We have attempted to alleviate these difficulties by developing a software tool, ConceptBuilder, for automating the process and ensuring accurate coding and quantification of the data. In this article, we present ConceptBuilder, a multiple-use tool for data gathering, data entry, and diagram display. We describe the program's controls, report the results of a usability test of the program, and discuss some technical aspects of the program. We also describe ConceptAnalysis, a companion program for generating data matrices and analyses, and ConceptViewer, a program for viewing the data exactly as drawn.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, 125 NI, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., 02115-5000, Boston, MA. n.kim@neu.edu.
authors.forename: Nancy S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: athenahealth, Inc., Watertown, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Edward Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012984:Software