Bounded Stories

Abstract

Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) and framing scholars share an interest in how the construction of policy arguments influences opinions and policy decisions. However, conceptual clarification is needed. This study advances the NPF by clarifying the meaning and function of frames and narrative, as well as their respective roles in creating policy realities. We explore sociological and psychological roots of framing scholarship and map these onto NPF's science of narratives philosophy, suggesting that narratives can reveal internally held cognitive schemas. We focus on issue categorization frames as boundaries for narrative construction. Within these bounds, narrative settings further focalize the audience by specifying where action toward a solution takes place. Based on 26 interviews with floodplain decision makers in Montana, we capture internally held cognitions through the assemblage of issue categorization frames and narrative elements. We find that settings can traverse issue categorization frames and policy solutions, with actions of characters that unfold within the setting being key. Similarly, we find that a single issue categorization frame can contain multiple different narratives and that individuals may simultaneously hold multiple different narratives internally. Overall, this study contributes to policy process research through establishment of connections among narratives, issue categorization frames, and cognitive schemas.

Advancing the Narrative Policy Framework? The Musings of a Potentially Unreliable Narrator

“…McBeth et al (2014) and Shanahan et al (2017), in their subsequent reviews of the NPF, cite literature exhibiting similar trends. Research in this special edition shows a similar pattern with Lawlor and Crow (2018) focusing on environmental hazards, two contributions focusing on hydraulic fracturing (Gottlieb et al, 2018;Zanocco et al, 2018) and two dealing with river policy issues (Kirkpatrick & Stoutenborough, 2018;Shanahan, Raile, et al, 2018). A quick perusal of NPF applications post 2016 seems to indicate the environmental policy focus continues outside this special issue as well (e.g., Crow et al, 2017;Lebel & Lebel, 2018).…”

“…On the data front, this collection of articles shows what might also now be considered traditional NPF data: surveys (e.g., McMorris et al, 2018), content-analyzed documents (e.g., Lawlor & Crow, 2018), and interviews (e.g., Shanahan, Raile, et al, 2018). However, several of these studies highlight important data sources for future scholarship.…”

“…The research within this issue continues that trend. Most are mixed-methods approaches including some aspect of qualitative research and what might be considered standard NPF types of quantitative analyses, including descriptive statistics; measures of association; and, of course, plenty of regression analyses (e.g., Gottlieb et al, 2018;McBeth & Lybecker, 2018;Merry, 2018;Shanahan, Raile, et al, 2018). However, as the NPF adapts to new research questions with more nuanced data concerns and, in some cases, modest narrative effects, we are seeing more variety and sophistication in the statistical techniques deployed.…”

“…Shanahan, Raile, French, and McEvoy () analyze interview data from decision makers in Montana related to flood preparation on the Yellowstone River. In this meso‐level analysis, the researchers explore the relationship and function of frames and policy narratives, making a case for using issue categorization frames as a mechanism that bounds a policy narrative.…”

Risk‐Based Policy Narratives

“…The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) was developed to provide scholars with theoretical and empirical grounding for inquiries into such questions about the interplay between communication and policy processes (Jones & McBeth, ; Jones, Shanahan & McBeth, ; Shanahan, Jones & McBeth, ) and has recently been expanded to analyze issues of risk, hazards, and disasters (see Crow, Lawhon, et al, ; Shanahan Raile, French, & McEvoy, ). In our previous work, we argued for the inclusion of framing analysis and the role of media within the broader NPF structure in order to account for the ways in which problems, solutions, and characters are portrayed to citizens (Crow & Lawlor, ).…”