Common Approaches for Studying the Advocacy Coalition Framework: Review of Methods and Best Practices

The advocacy coalition framework (ACF) is being used in diverse contexts around the world. Jenkins-Smith et al. (2014) argue because of the proliferation and diversification of applications of the ACF there is a need to balance adaption of the framework to the particular contexts, and general methodological guidelines for common application. This paper addresses this call for research by utilizing content analysis of 161 applications of the ACF in English peer reviewed journal articles from 2007 – 2014. This paper identifies what methods of data collection and analysis are associated with each theory, policy domain, and geographic origin of the first author. The paper concludes by identifying best practices, both empirical and interpretivist, for applying the ACF to test each theory.