Research on Information Mapping

Research is the basis of the Information Mapping method. This details

• Research: Behind the method, summarizing the research that went into the development of the method
• Research: How well the method works, summarizing the research into how well the method works
  

Research behind the method

The Information Mapping method is based upon over 40 years of research into effective communications. It was initiated by the founder, Robert E. Horn, and steadily augmented by researchers at Information Mapping, Inc. in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The research is culled from these disciplines:

• cognitive psychology
• instructional systems design
• documentation writing research
• message design
• media selection
• human factors engineering
• programmed learning
• online documentation, and
• evaluation.

Click here for a detailed Research Bibliography in Adobe Acrobat format.

Research into the method

Over the past 43 years, there has been extensive research into how well Information Mapping works. The method was initially described by Robert Horn in 1966 (Horn, 1966) and thoroughly documented in 1969 in Information Mapping for Learning & Reference (Horn, Nicol, Klienman & Grace, 1969).

Since then

• over 60 studies of the effectiveness of the method have been published
• numerous articles have been written describing applications of the method, and
• millions of pages of documentation and training materials have been developed using the method.

These studies have measured the method's effectiveness in these areas.

For a brief summary of the research results, click on Benefits of Information Mapping.

For a detailed summary of the above studies, click on Research Paper on Information Mapping in Adobe Acrobat format.

For a detailed descriptions on various aspects of the method, click on White Papers and Articles on Information Mapping.