Frame Changes, Reframing, and Turning Points in Disputes: The Edwards Aquifer Case
Funder: Hewlett Foundation
Funded in 2001 as a two-year extension of the first Inter-University Consortium on environmental framing, this project focused on tracking the frame changes in the Edwards Aquifer conflict. It drew from the newspaper articles and case analyses of major events in the dispute to examine the turning points in the conflict as a way of understanding frame enlargements, narrowing, and abrupt shifts. Data from the 240 newspaper articles and 68 interviews were used to track shifts, discover variations from dominant frames, examine the conceptual features of these shifts, and determine the patterns of framing that lead to naming, blaming, and claiming the conflict differently. The research centered on the frame patterns among four types of frames—identity, characterization, conflict management, and intractability. The study sought to relate the frame changes to the movement of a protracted conflict to a more tractable state.
Texas A&M University research team members included Dr. Linda Putnam and Rebecca Royer (communication). Other consortium members included Pennsylvania State University (Dr. Barbara Gray, organizational behavior) and Ohio State University (Dr. Roy J. Lewicki, management and human resources), among others.
