Studying Framing in Political Communication with an Integrative Approach

Abstract

This article explores the nature of framing as being an inherently integrative approach to political communication research. It proposes a two-part definition of integrative: “bring together” and “fit into.” It holds that knowledge about framing is depicted in models that show a shifting landscape of conceptual definitions of frame and framing, arguing that within a given piece of framing research, the bring-together approach leads to a focus on the operational level of design rather than the level of concept explication and theory development, which is the province of the fit-into approach. Although all framing studies must contain an element of each approach, many studies are characterized by a tension between them.