Coverage Monitoring Network

CMAM COVERAGE MONITORING

Improving nutrition programmes through the promotion of quality coverage assessment tools, capacity building and information sharing.

Concept maps

Concept maps can be developed both during and at the end of the qualitative data collection phase to represent connections between findings. Two concept maps should be developed: one to represent findings between barriers; and one to represent findings between boosters. The relationships between different barriers and boosters can include a number of different "types" of relationships. These include (but are not limited to) 'contributes to', 'required for', 'encourages', 'helps create', 'results in' and 'allows'. Image 1 is an example of a concept map using a few of the different types of relationship:

Image 1: An example of a concept map for programme boosters using explicitly defined relationships (Data courtesy of Save the Children USA and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (Tufts University)).

They are useful during a SQUEAC investigation for a number of reasons:

During interviews when working out and communicating how different barriers and boosters are related and interact with each other in complex or cyclical processes. Image 1 shows a virtuous circle where the different boosters reinforce themselves resulting in favourable results. Image 2 shows a vicious circle which drives coverage down.
During qualitative data collection, concept maps can also help the survey team to form hypotheses for further investigation.
Once qualitative data collection has been completed, concept maps can be useful for scoring findings to estimate overall programme coverage (more guidance to follow).

Image 2: An example of a concept map for programme barriers using explicitly defined relationship types and an explanatory annotation (Data courtesy of UNICEF Sierra Leone, MOH Sierra Leone and Valid International)

Sources:

The text and images in this page were taken from pages 53-61 of:

Myatt. M, Guevarra. E, Fieschi. L, Norris. A, Guerrero. S, Schofield. L, Jones. D, Emru. E and Sadler. K , 2012. Semi-Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage (SQUEAC) / Simplified Lot Quality Assurance Sampling Evaluation of Access and Coverage (SLEAC) Technical Reference, available to download here.