Frame Analysis

Frames are “central organizing ideas” that provide context, structure, and meaning to information, facilitating a specific interpretation of an issue. Counting among the most popular ideas in communication study in recent years, variants of frame analysis have developed within a variety of disciplines inside and outside of communication. Methodologically, qualitative as well as quantitative approaches to frame analysis can be organized along three dimensions: their capture of latent versus manifest meanings, their adherence to inductive versus deductive processes, and their focus on generic or issue-specific frames. Increasing numbers of studies using frame analytic techniques have resulted in a contested and fragmented set of methods, the most influential of which are discussed in this entry.