Narrative Policy Analysis

Analysis rooted in instrumental reason cannot accurately capture the subjective nature of political reality (Stone 2002; van Eeten 2007). Rather, application of narrative policy analysis (NPA) allows for substantive qualitative analysis of the dynamics at play on the issue studied. The efficacy of NPA has been empirically confirmed as a tool to make sense of and analyze public policy production (Boswell, Geddes and Scholten 2011; Bridgman and Barry 2002; McBeth et al. 2007; Petković 2008; Shanahan et al. 2008).

Policy narratives capture the stories behind the “wicked problems” addressed by public policy, and the proposed solutions to those problems (McBeth et al. 2007; Rittel and Webber 1973; Schon and Rein 1994) that are essential to understanding the politics of financial literacy education. Distinct from discourses (which refer to a wider set of values), policy narratives depict certain, often idealized interpretations of problems and solutions as stories, rather than realities (Fischer 2003). When successful, they become influential in legitimizing policy action. At the micro level of analysis, policy narratives affect individual attitudes, and have been shown to affect aggregate public opinion (Jones and McBeth 2010), especially when the media acts as a conduit to communicate them (Shanahan et al. 2008). Policy narratives can thus be strategic when constructed in conjunction with political manoeuvring, pointing to power dynamics as they operate in the public sphere (Hampton 2009; Stone 2002), and legitimize policy decisions.

Researchers have applied NPA qualitatively and quantitatively depending on the researcher's epistemological orientation.

Examples of its application include:
Boswell, C., A. Geddes and P. Scholten. 2011. The role of narratives in migration policy-making: A research framework. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 13 no. 1: 1-11.

Bridgman, T. and D. Barry. 2002. Regulation is evil: An application of narrative policy analysis to regulatory debate in New Zealand. Policy Sciences 35: 141-161.

Hampton, G. 2009. Narrative policy analysis and the integration of public involvement in decision making. Policy Sciences 42: 227–242.

McBeth, M.K., E.A. Shanahan, R.J. Arnell and P.L. Hathaway. 2007. The intersection of narrative policy analysis and policy change theory. Policy Studies Journal, 35, no. 1: 87-106.

Pinto, L.E. (2013). When politics trump evidence: Financial literacy education narratives following the global financial crisis. Journal of Education Policy, 28(1), 95-120.

Additional reading to understand NPA, as well as analytic techniques to support it, include the following (though it's a good idea to look at how it was applied in the examples above first!)

Fischer, F. 2003. Reframing public policy: Discursive politics and deliberative practices. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mello, R.A. 2002.Collocation analysis: a method for conceptualizing and understanding narrative data. Qualitative Research 2, no. 2: 231-243.

Stone, D. 2002. Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton.