The art of seeing: From 2D to 3D visualization in situational analysis

Abstract

This text presents an innovation that expands the methodological possibilities of situational analysis (SA), a framework often used to research complex institutions. Our innovation features the use of 3D visualization, a strategy which makes it easier to analyse the self-organizing processes of institutions. In the introductory part of the article, we describe how and for what reasons the successors of A. Strauss transformed Grounded Theory into SA. Our main focus is on the analytical significance of visualization, a central feature of SA methodology. In the second and third parts, we characterize the role of visualization to enhance the understanding of research phenomena using examples from the development of non-Euclidean geometry as well as the well-known A-not-B error research schema. In the next part, we explain in detail the innovation using an example from a three-year research project of ours during which the innovation was established. At the end, we discuss the importance of our innovation against the background of identifying self-organizing processes as well as reducing the amount of so-called dark data.