A Picture of the Frame: Frame Analysis as Technique and as Politics

In this article, the authors make the case for using frame analysis, an analytical tool commonly used in empirical work on social movements and social policy debates, as a strategy for organizational research. Using two sample texts—representing opposite stands on how the socially responsible investing movement should view investing decisions based on corporate handling of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered workplace issues—they illustrate several important methodological and epistemological concerns for organizational scholars considering this technique. They examine four key issues in particular that arise in thinking about how and why to use frame analysis: (a) using frame analysis to sort out underlying logics; (b) situating frames in context; (c) surfacing politics, subjugated voices, and implicit ideologies; and (d) making mindful choices as organizational researchers. They give special attention to the problem of how our reflexive positions and claims about knowledge have implications for conducting and reading frame analyses.