The missing link: audience frames in the process model of framing effects

The process model of framing effects proposes that media frames affect public opinion via audience frames. However, there is a lack of research examining these audience frames. In this investigation we define and subsequently develop an empirical measurement of audience frames, which is applied to the issue of Muslims in the Netherlands. Audience frames are operationalized in three steps: a flow of thoughts is elicited from respondents, next, various items are coded -both inductively and deductively- which are clustered subsequently. Those empirically abstracted clusters represent individuals' schemas, which embody audience frames when they are widely shared among a population. This analysis results in four audience frames: a Problem frame, an Islam frame, an Origin out-group frame and a Cultural out-group frame. It is argued that it is necessary to take audience frames into account in future studies of framing effects.