Sense-making Analysis: A Framework for Multi-Strategy and Cross-Country Research

Victoria Wibeck,Björn-Ola Linnér

doi:10.1177/1609406921998907

Victoria Wibeck, Björn-Ola Linnér

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406921998907

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Abstract

While sense-making is a frequently used concept in everyday discourse and in several social science research areas, discussions about how the concept translates into methodology are currently scarce. This paper introduces a framework for analyzing how actors in different cultural contexts make sense of global concepts. By this we refer to expressions that are used and expected to find a common ground worldwide, yet are equivocal in their multiple meanings and connotations. The paper discusses methodological considerations of such a sense-making analysis. The paper cites examples from a mixed-methods, cross-country, sense-making analysis of societal transformations toward sustainability—a concept promoted by the United Nations 2030 Agenda. We identify three steps in a comprehensive sense-making analysis: 1) mapping relevant societal arenas for sense-making; 2) vertical analyses; and 3) horizontal analyses. We outline how different datasets can be approached vertically, focusing on the use of framing, metaphors, categorizations, and stories. This forms the basis for the horizontal analysis of societal narratives and recurrent themes across the different data sources. By presenting comprehensive vertical and horizontal analyses, researchers and state and non-state actors can gain insight into the broader varieties of sense-making that can enrich scientific analysis, enhance transparency and effectiveness in international relations, and support transnational governance and civil society collaborations.

Highlights

In a world of globalized governance and media, people in various countries and cultural contexts face key concepts that are generally expected to have global meaning, such as democracy, civil rights, equity, sustainable development, societal transformation, gender equality, and migration
We perform the analysis in three steps (Figure 1), we focus on three features of sense-making (Figure 2), and consider three levels of interaction
In our project on societal transformations toward sustainability, we identified five core narratives that recurred throughout the datasets, and that were related to the process of transformation rather than transformation goals

Summary

Introduction

In a world of globalized governance and media, people in various countries and cultural contexts face key concepts that are generally expected to have global meaning, such as democracy, civil rights, equity, sustainable development, societal transformation, gender equality, and migration. The concepts are subject to different understandings of the root causes of problems confronting societies, the goals to be achieved, and the actions needed to attain the goals in different ways (e.g., Jernnas & Linner, 2019; Martinez-Alier, 2014; Onuf, 2013; Wang & Zhang, 2010). This variation may depend on actors’ temporal and spatial settings, their interpretative frames, and their values and worldviews. As noted by Linell (2009, p. 12), “/s/ense-making is strongly interactive and contextual.” To facilitate analysis of both commonalities and variations in a broad international context, this paper aims to develop a new methodological framework for analyzing how actors in different cultural settings make sense of concepts that are expected to find common ground worldwide

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