A magic bullet in policy communication? On the ambiguous use of framing in policy research

Policy research and particularly social policy analysis have increasingly drawn upon the concept of framing. A number of contributions have demonstrated its usefulness for building explanations of policy change and its consequences. However, the adoption of the concept has also been accompanied by a considerable conceptual ambiguity. It is not only understood in quite different ways, at times its use is also rather vague and far removed from a narrow definition of framing. This paper discusses different ways in which framing is adopted within the field of policy research and the conceptual and epistemological stumbling blocks that follow from them. It argues that the most problematic use occurs where framing is used to characterize policy action and even more so in combination with public opinion changes that framing allegedly brought about. Finally, some ways forward for achieving a more rigorous use of the framing concept in policy research are presented.