The narrative policy framework: Child or Monster?

Abstract

A popular policy theory graduate textbook by Smith and Larimer (2013) described the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) as a hybrid – and perhaps contradictory – platform using post-positivist theory in the service of positivistic methods. While the NPF has done much to advance what one might term its positivist hypotheses testing orientation, the ongoing relationship between the NPF and its postpositive, interpretative foundation is – to date – unclear. This article explores the relationship between the NPF and interpretivism. In our exploration, we detail NPF dimensions of ontology, epistemology, socio-theoretic choice, disciplinary boundaries, generalizing versus particularizing style s and normativity, as these dimensions relate to interpretivism. We find the NPF and interpretivism to be quite compatible along our analyzed dimensions – albeit with major epistemological differences. We conclude with a discussion outlining what the NPF has to offer interpretivism and what interpretivism has to offer the NPF.