The Narrative Uses of Evidence

Schlaufer, Caroline (2016). The Narrative Uses of Evidence. Policy studies journal, 46(1), pp. 90-118. Wiley 10.1111/psj.12174

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When scientific evidence is used in policy controversies, it is always embedded in narrative stories. The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) is an empirical framework used to study the role of narratives in public policy. While the NPF has considered the relationship between evidence and narratives from different angles, it has not used a consistent approach in examining how evidence is
embedded in narratives. This article develops a categorization of narrative uses of evidence. A narrative use of evidence is defined by the different roles that evidence plays in the plot of a narrative depending on which narrative element is addressed by a given piece of evidence. To distinguish different narrative uses of evidence, the article examines how competing coalitions use the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study in Swiss direct-democratic campaigns on School policy. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses of newspaper articles and governmental documents show how evidence may relate to all main narrative elements and may play different roles
in the plot of a narrative. The findings demonstrate significant differences in the narrative uses of PISA between coalitions related to the story types and narrative strategies that each coalition uses. Finally, the implications for future NPF research are discussed.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

11 Centers of Competence > KPM Center for Public Management

UniBE Contributor:

Schlaufer, Caroline Lea

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 350 Public administration & military science
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 320 Political science

ISSN:

1541-0072

Publisher:

Wiley

Language:

English

Submitter:

Caroline Lea Schlaufer

Date Deposited:

09 Sep 2016 17:55

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:58

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/psj.12174

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/87544

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