The previous version of Causal Map, version 3, was already, as far as we know, the only software dedicated to causally coding causal claims within texts. Version 4 improves over Causal Map 3 in the following ways:

Speed and stability#

• Fast loading and editing
• Resilient to poor internet connectivity
• Scalable to hundreds or thousands of concurrent users

Uploading and organising data#

• Simplified data model to make it easier for you to import and manage your sources: we no longer break down source texts into separate statements. We treat each source text as one entire text. In cm4, there is no such thing as a statement.
• Easily create "Custom Columns" for each source (such as gender, location etc)
• Edit the data for your "Custom Columns" with a spreadsheet-like interface
• Complete management of all of your projects
• Simple upload of PDF or DOCX documents
• Tags to help you organise multiple projects
• Note that in cm3 we used to call projects "files"
• You can upload a project exported from cm3 as a new cm4 project

Managing labels#

• New, more powerful and easier to use bulk editing of labels in the links table and the factors table.

Filtering and analysing#

• Almost all the existing links filters from cm3 are available plus
• the option to include multiple versions of the same links filter, e.g. to narrow down a selection of links by different criteria successively
• optional semantic filters like cluster and soft recode Require an AI subscription
• Analyse data with new pivot tables and graphs

Sharing and collaborating#

• Anonymous login option so that anyone can view your work without logging in
• URL-based state saving for bookmarking (the same URL always takes you back to the same view)

These features require a Team subscription

• Real-time collaboration: Live updates when collaborators add links
• Interactive maps for live demonstrations

Help system#

• Built-in help system
• Help drawer with links to each section
• Same contents used for separate Guide with links to each section

AI Coding#

• Optional AI-powered state-of-the-art, paragraph by paragraph coding assistance. We call this "Human first, AI next".

Causal Map 3 features which will probably not be implemented:#

• Deep support for standard questions across multiple sources
• Special treatment for closed questions
• Ability to view the text of multiple sources at once.