Critical Frame Analysis: A Comparative Methodology for the 'Quality in Gender+ Equality Policies' (QUING) project

The aim of this paper is to introduce the methodology developed for the research project 'Quality in Gender+ Equality Policies (QUING)'. This methodology combines various approaches to policy analysis and social movement theory (policy process analysis, discursive policy analysis, frame analysis, voice analysis, and political opportunity structures) to provide a framework for mapping and explaining gender equality policies in 29 European countries and the European Union. The paper will outline the major steps taken by the research project: issue history mapping, gathering contextual data on policy making, defining sensitizing questions for document analysis, coding, code standardization and frame identification. The paper was presented at ECPR First European Conference on Politics and Gender held on January 21-23, 2009 at Queen’s University in Belfast. The aim of the paper is twofold: first to demonstrate the novel methodological solutions to discursive policy analysis developed during the course of the project; and second, to provide an introduction for other papers in the panel describing some of the more substantial research results of this scientific endeavor.