Eliciting actors’ perspectives in integrated watershed management: exploring a practical tool based on a mental model approach

A profound understanding of actors’ perspectives on issues to be resolved is essential for researchers and practitioners in integrated natural resource management. Existing mental model approaches to systematically elicit such perspectives have been based on qualitative interviews, which implies small sample sizes or time-consuming analyses. Few studies have investigated complex projects of practical relevance. We studied the actors’ perspectives before the participatory process in a real-world integrated watershed management project through qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey based on a theoretical framework inspired by mental model approaches. We identified clear accordance and discordance among the perspectives regarding meanings of the water bodies, objectives for their management, and related beliefs. The mixed methods mental model approach proved to be a promising practical tool for the effective and efficient elicitation of actors’ perspectives in decision making.