Frames in Production: Actors, Networks, Diffusion (FRAMENET)

政治行为者不会客观地提出问题。他们强调某些方面，弱化其他方面，并影响观众对问题的看法，这被称为框架效应。例如，森林可以被定义为待开发的资源池、艺术灵感的源泉、脆弱而复杂的生态系统，或者必须驯服的威胁。这些可供选择的框架都指向不同的政策处方。此外，并非每一帧对观众的影响都是一样的。现有的研究表明，带有负面信息的情绪性框架在改变人们的想法方面特别有效。尽管框架在政治心理学、社会运动、国际关系或政治传播学等领域得到了广泛的研究，但现有研究的主要焦点是框架的说服力，即影响框架说服力的因素。这个项目提出了一个被忽视的问题：框架从何而来？为什么演员要选择他们使用的特定帧？因此，该项目旨在创建一个新的比较研究议程，调查政治辩论中具体的陈述何时以及如何出现，由哪种行为者提出，以及它们是否以及如何传播给他人。该项目研究五个问题领域（贸易、移民、环境、全球卫生和透明度）的框架。该项目采取四个步骤来实现其目标。第一步，它使用了一种叫做话语网络分析（Discourse Network Analysis）的新方法工具（与行动者网络一起研究争论的内容），以追踪在一些选定的政治辩论中特定框架的出现，参与这一过程的最重要的行动者，以及所涉及的扩散网络。在第二步，它对这些参与框架的关键行为者进行访谈，以调查决定他们框架选择的最重要因素，以及他们各自的制度是否对这些选择产生影响。在第三步中，该项目研究这些模式是否因问题领域（贸易、移民、环境、全球卫生和透明度）而异以及如何异。因此，该项目为一个关键但被忽视的理论问题提供了一个比较和全面的答案，采用了创新和混合的方法。该项目的第四步也是最后一步是向学术界和非学术界传播其研究结果，以提高人们对在全球化世界中产生这五个关键问题领域框架的过程的认识。该项目与全球发展政策的主要智库之一德国发展研究所以及一系列有关的政府和非政府行为体合作，在研究的每一个阶段纳入主要受益者。

Political actors do not present issues objectively. They emphasize certain aspects and deemphasize others and influence the way the audience thinks about the issue, which is called a framing effect. A forest, for example, can be framed as a resource pool to be exploited, a source of artistic inspiration, a fragile and complex ecosystem, or a threat that must be tamed. Each of these alternative frames points to a different policy prescription. Moreover, not every frame is equally influential on its audience. Existing research demonstrates that emotionally compelling frames with negative information are especially effective in changing people’s minds. Although frames have been studied extensively in fields such as political psychology, social movements, international relations or political communication, the main focus of the existing research is their persuasiveness, in other words the factors that affect their persuasiveness. This project asks a neglected question: Where do frames come from in the first place? Why do actors choose the specific frames they use? The project thus aims to create a new, comparative research agenda that investigates when and how specific statements emerge in a political debate, by which kinds of actors they are proposed, and whether and how they diffuse to others. The project studies frames in five issue areas (trade, immigration, environment, global health, and transparency).The project takes four steps in order to achieve its aim. In a first step, it uses a new methodological tool called Discourse Network Analysis (studying the content of arguments together with the networks of actors), in order to trace the emergence of specific frames in a number of selected political debates, the most important actors involved in the process, and the diffusion networks involved. In a second step, it conducts interviews with these key actors involved in framing in order to investigate the most important factors determining their framing choices and whether their respective institutions have an impact on these choices. In a third step, the project studies whether and how these patterns vary from one issue area to another (trade, immigration, environment, global health, and transparency). As such, the project offers a comparative and comprehensive answer to a crucial but overlooked theoretical question, with an innovative and mixed-method methodology.The fourth and final step of the project is to disseminate its findings to academic and non-academic communities, in order to raise awareness on the processes that produce frames in these five key issue areas in a globalising world. Working in partnership with German Development Institute, one of the leading think tanks for global development policy worldwide, and a range of relevant governmental and non-governmental actors, the project integrates key beneficiaries at every stage of the research.