PCN Augmentation

After questionnaire completion and Assessment/Item Selection, the selected items become nodes in a person-specific Perceived Causal Network.

Core task

Participants judge whether and to what extent one problem influences another.

A generic prompt could be:

To what extent do you think that Problem A causes, triggers, or maintains Problem B?

The exact response scale should be harmonized across questionnaires and kept simple enough for online use.

Design options

Fully pairwise assessment

All directed pairs are rated.

For (k) nodes, this requires (k(k-1)) directed judgments.

Examples:

• 4 nodes → 12 judgments
• 5 nodes → 20 judgments
• 6 nodes → 30 judgments

Two-stage assessment

First ask whether a causal relation exists; then rate strength only for endorsed relations.

Potential advantage:

• less cognitive burden,
• clearer distinction between edge presence and edge strength.

Matrix-based assessment

Participants rate causal relations in a matrix.

Potential advantage:

• compact implementation.

Potential limitation:

• may be cognitively more demanding on small screens.

Key measurement questions

• Should direction be assessed explicitly?
• Should causal strength be ordinal or continuous?
• Should negative/inhibitory relations be possible?
• Should participants be able to indicate uncertainty?
• Should self-loops be excluded? Default: yes.
• Should reciprocal relations be allowed? Default: yes.

Output

The assessment produces a directed weighted adjacency matrix that can be summarized using Analysis/Network Metrics and visualized in Feedback/Network Feedback.