Qualitative mapping for understanding the collective judgment building process: A study of the Federal Open Market Committee

This study develops a mapping method for studying a collective judgment building process in a decision-making group. Environmental uncertainties and a lack of information require a decision maker to make judgments about various issues relevant to the decision task. In a group setting, the members together weave their structural model of the system with available information to build a collective judgment for the decision task.;The method detailed in this study generates a map that describes the collective model of the system structure that is verbally expressed during a decision-making meeting. Based on the assumption that the decision emerges from the group process, the map is then used as a narrative tool to explain how the group preferred one decision over other alternatives.;The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)'s monetary policymaking process is used as a case for this study. Verbatim transcripts from the FOMC meetings are used as the data. Integrating coding methods from grounded theory and mapping languages from system dynamics, the study systematically elicits a map from the qualitative data. The detailed account of the mapping process allows one to follow how the relevant data segments are sifted, coded, and transformed into a visual representation. The study also describes how the researcher's subjectivity is embedded in the interpretive process of the mapping and how it is recognized explicitly. The map is then used to explain how the FOMC reached a policy decision through a process of building collective judgment about the state of the economy.;This study attempts to make contributions to existing literature primarily by developing a new mapping method for studying the collective judgment building process. However, the study also intends to demonstrate the benefits of interdisciplinary communication between those who practice qualitative mapping and modeling and those who use ethnographic research methods. More specifically, the study attempts to suggest a way to systematically generate system dynamics maps and models from qualitative data through the use of coding practice. In addition, this study intends to contribute to those interested in understanding the FOMC's monetary policymaking in practice.