Compare methods

	Q-Sort in Communication	Framing Analysis
Field	Communication	Communication
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1953	1993
Originator	William Stephenson (Q methodology); applied in communication research	Robert M. Entman (synthesis); roots in Goffman, Tuchman, Gitlin
Type	Rank-ordering of stimuli to model patterns of audience subjectivity	Interpretive-quantitative analysis of how messages select and emphasize aspects of reality
Seminal source	Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 9780761915454	Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58.
Aliases	Q-sort technique, Q methodology in communication, Subjectivity sorting, Q-Sıralama	Frame analysis, Media framing analysis method, Frame mapping, Çerçeveleme Analizi
Related	4	5
Summary	Q-sort is the data-collection technique at the heart of Q methodology, in which participants rank-order a set of statements or stimuli along a forced distribution (typically from 'most agree' to 'most disagree') to express their subjective point of view. In communication research it is used to uncover the shared patterns of opinion, framing, or media interpretation that exist within an audience, by factor-analyzing how people sort rather than how they score isolated items.	Framing analysis is a communication research method for studying how messages select certain aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient — promoting a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and treatment recommendation. Building on Robert Entman's influential 1993 synthesis, it moves beyond counting what is present to reconstructing the organizing ideas, or frames, that give media coverage its meaning and persuasive shape.