Frame Analysis Method
Ene Vinson
Frame analysis (also called framing analysis) is a multi-disciplinary social science research method used to analyze how people understand situations and activities. Frame analysis looks at images, stereotypes, metaphors, actors, messages, and more. It examines how important these factors are and how and why they are chosen.[1] The concept is generally attributed to the work of Erving Goffman and his 1974 book Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience and has been developed in social movement theory, policy studies and elsewhere.[2]
Framing theory and frame analysis is a broad theoretical approach that has been used in communication studies, news (Johnson-Cartee, 1995), politics, and social movements among other applications. "Framing is the process by which a communication source, such as a news organization, defines and constructs a political issue or public controversy" (Nelson, Oxley, & Clawson, 1997, p. 221).[3] It is related to the concept of agenda-setting. Framing influences how people interpret or process information.[4] This can set an agenda. However, frame analysis goes beyond agenda-setting by examining the issues rather than the topics.[4]
Frame analysis is usually done in regard to news media. However, framing is inevitable, as everyone does it.[4] It can speed up the process of interpretation as well as writing and presenting the news.[5] People just may not realize they are using frames.[4] When people are aware that they are using framing, there are several techniques that can be used. These may include: metaphor, stories, tradition, slogan, jargon, catchphrase, artifact, contrast or spin.[1]
Frame analysis had been proposed as a type of rhetorical analysis for political actors in the 1980s. Political communication researcher Jim A. Kuypers first published his work advancing framing analysis as a rhetorical perspective in 1997. His approach begins inductively by looking for themes that persist across time in a text (for Kuypers, primarily news narratives on an issue or event), and then determining how those themes are framed. Kuypers' work begins with the assumption that frames are powerful rhetorical entities that "induce us to filter our perceptions of the world in particular ways, essentially making some aspects of our multi-dimensional reality more noticeable than other aspects. They operate by making some information more salient than other information. ..."[6] In "Framing Analysis From a Rhetorical Perspective" Kuypers details the differences between framing analysis as rhetorical criticism and as a social scientific endeavor, in particular arguing that framing criticism offers insights unavailable to social scientists.[7]
In his 2009 work, Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action[8] Kuypers offers a detailed template for doing framing analysis from a rhetorical perspective. According to Kuypers, "Framing is a process whereby communicators, consciously or unconsciously, act to construct a point of view that encourages the facts of a given situation to be interpreted by others in a particular manner. Frames operate in four key ways: they define problems, diagnose causes, make moral judgments, and suggest remedies. Frames are often found within a narrative account of an issue or event, and are generally the central organizing idea."[9] Kuypers' work is based on the premise that framing is a rhetorical process and as such it is best examined from a rhetorical point of view.
In his book, Goffman said that people use their primary framework to examine their world.[4] There are also distinctions within primary frameworks. There are natural and social frameworks.[4] Natural frameworks don't apply social forces to situations.[4] They just exist naturally. However, social frameworks do apply social forces to situations.[4] The two are connected because social frameworks stem from natural frameworks.[4]
Framing has been utilized to explain the process of social movements (Snow & Benford, 1988).[10] Movements are carriers of beliefs and ideologies. In addition, they are part of the process of constructing meaning for participants and opposers (Snow & Benford, 1988). Mass movements are said to be successful when the frames projected align with the frames of participants to produce resonance between the two parties. This is a process known as frame alignment.
Snow and Benford (1988) say that frame alignment is an important element in social mobilization or movement. They argue that when individual frames become linked in congruency and complementariness, that "frame alignment" occurs (p. 198; Snow et al. 1986, p. 464[11]), producing "frame resonance", which is key to the process of a group transitioning from one frame to another (although not all framing efforts are successful). The conditions that affect or constrain framing efforts are:
Snow and Benford (1986) propose that once proper frames are constructed as described above, large-scale changes in society such as those necessary for social movement can be achieved through frame alignment.
The deductive frame analysis pre-defines frames and then looks for them in the news to see which stories fit into the definitions.[13] The inductive frame analysis requires that a story is analyzed first.[13] The researcher looks for possible frames that have been loosely defined.[13]
Since frame analyses are conducted manually, they require significant effort and time. Recently, some researchers have proposed to automate parts of frame analysis. For example, one approach aims to find instances of biased news coverage in news articles.[14] The automated approach imitates frame analysis by using natural language processing and media bias models.
Though this book primarily exemplifies the application of Recursive Frame Analysis to the study of therapeutic sessions, RFA as a research tool is not limited to this domain but can be applied to the analysis of any change-oriented conversation, interaction, or even textual discourse to track the primary distinctions, recursively generated re-indications, and emergent contextual frames being constructed. It is intended that this book serve as a resource for the future application of RFA across multiple fields.
Hillary Keeney and Bradford Keeney would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to our colleagues in Mexico for their support of this work. In particular Pedro Vargas Avalos and Clara Haydee Solis Ponce, who with their colleagues have sponsored our teaching at the Department of Clinical Psychology, National University of Mexico (UNAM), Zaragoza, and Juan Carlos Garca and Sylvia Arce, who have sponsored our teaching at Etfasis: Institute of Systemic Family Therapy. It was during our seminars there that many of the ideas in this book were developed.
Ronald Chenail would like to thank President George L. Hanbury II and Nova Southeastern University for supporting The Qualitative Report; Hillary and Brad Keeney for their continuing guidance and encouragement; Lydia Acosta, Michele Gibney, and Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis for launching NSU Works and helping with our first book development and release; Melissa Rosen for her copyediting and graphics skills; Adam Rosenthal for his leadership in making TQR Books a reality; and Jan Chenail, my late wife, for making me a better writer, husband, father, and friend.
Elastic analysis deals with the study of strength and behavior of the members and structure at working loads. Frames can be analyzed by various methods. However, the method of analysis adopted depends upon the types of frame, its configuration (portal bay or multibay) multistoried frame and Degree of indeterminacy.
This method is called as force method or compatibility method. In this Redundant forces are chosen as unknowns. Additional equations are obtained by considering the geometrical conditions imposed on the formation of structures. This method is used for analyzing frames of lower D.O.R.
It is displacement or equilibrium or stiffness method. It consists of series of simultaneous equations, each expressing the relation between the moments acting at the ends of the members is written in terns of slope & deflection. The solution of slope deflection equations along with equilibrium equations gives the values of unknown rotations of the joints. Knowing these rotations, the end moments are calculated using slope deflection equations.
Hence flexibility coefficients & slope displacement methods have limited applications in the analysis of frames. While other methods like iterative or approximate methods are used for analyzing frames containing larger indeterminacy.
Approximate analysis of hyper static structures provides a simple means of obtaining quick solutions for preliminary designs. It is a very useful process that helps to develop a suitable configuration for final (rigorous) analysis of a structure, compare alternative designs & provide a quick check on the adequacy of structural designs. These methods make use of simplifying assumptions regarding structural behavior so as to obtain a rapid solution to complex structures. However, these techniques should be applied with caution & not relied upon for final designs, especially complex structures.
The usual process comprises reducing the given indeterminate configuration to a structural system by introducing adequate number of hinges. It is possible to check the deflected profile of a structure for the given loading & there by locate the points of inflection.
Since each point of inflection corresponds to the location of zero moment in the structure, the inflection points can be visualized as hinges for purpose of analysis. The solution of the structure is rendered simple once the inflection points are located. In multistoried frames, two loading cases arise namely horizontal & vertical loading.
The stress in the structure subjected to vertical loads depends upon the relative stiffness of the beam & columns. Approximate methods either assumes adequate number of hinges to render the structure determinate or adopt simplified moment distribution methods.
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