Research Reports

Quantitative Research

Refining the Core Story of Early Childhood Development: The Effects of Science and Health Frames. (2009)
This report summarizes results from the latest iteration of FrameWorks' experimental research focused on extending existing communications strategies on the science of ECD, and the efficacy of adding health as a dimension of those communications.
Telling the Science Story: An Exploration of Frame Effects on Public Understanding and Support For Early Child Development (2008)
This experimental study examines the impact of five key features of the core story of early childhood development on public attitudes and policy preferences.

Qualitative Research

Moving the Public Beyond Familiar Understandings of Early Childhood Development (2003)
This paper explains the research that tested which of a host of candidate metaphorical models were most effective at distilling expert knowledge for lay publics. Several “simplifying models” of developmental processes are suggested here as core elements for framing early childhood issues.
Simplifying Early Childhood Development: Findings from Cognitive Analysis and Phone Interviews (2003)
This paper reports on a preliminary effort to establish “simplifying models” that would bring lay members of the public closer in line with the perspectives of experts about what children need for their healthy development. In FrameWorks’ research, simplifying models are metaphorical explanations that distill expert knowledge in terms that allow lay publics to understand and engage in issues in more productive ways.
Hearts Souls and Minds: An Analysis of Qualitative Research Regarding Communicating School Readiness and other Child Development Policies (2002)
This paper explains findings from 12 focus groups that investigated whether several key early childhood frames in public discourse - “school readiness,” “ready to learn,” - convey the same constellation of issues and understandings to the lay public that these frames convey to experts. Further, the research investigated whether new models of framing child development may be more effective than the frames currently in play.
What Kids Need and What Kids Give Back: A Review of Communications Materials Used by Early Childhood Development Advocates To Promote School Readiness and Related Issues (2002)
This paper reports on a strategic framing analysis of advocates' communications strategies. The goal of the study was to identify patterns in advocates’ framing strategies, and to compare these with what research – both from the larger FrameWorks Institute project and from major traditions in the cognitive and social sciences – suggests might work.
Promoting School Readiness and Early Child Development: Findings from Cognitive Elicitations (2002)
This report explains findings from research that investigated whether the concept of "school readiness," a frame widely promoted by advocates and experts, can be effective at engaging public interest and action on a variety of children’s issues. In sum, the research found there to be a number of problematic associations triggered by the "school readiness" frame, and suggests alternative strategies for more effective framing.
The Whole Child - Parents and Policy: A Meta-Analysis of Opinion Data Concerning School Readiness, Early Childhood and Related Issues (2002)
This report reviews and analyzes existing public opinion data on parenting and child development in order to provide a context for understanding public support and opposition to proposed child policy interventions and remedies. In addition, this report analyzes public opinion in response to four common issue frames in public discourse on early childhood: Day Care, School Readiness, Crime Prevention, and Welfare/Poverty.