To complement and augment the present methods used for information requirements analysis, the application of cognitive mapping is introduced. The proposed technique, which involves the recognition of cause and effect relationships, appears to provide three benefits. It aids in the identification of irrelevant data. It can be used to evaluate the factors that affect a given class of decisions. And, most importantly, it enhances the overall understanding of a decision maker's environment, particularly when it is ill-structured. These observations are supported by a real world application of the approach to the evaluation of the performance of insurance claim representatives.