ABSTRACT
Descriptions of social research often tell of an orderly progress from literature review to hypothesis forming, data collection, statistical analysis, and findings. One great advantage of narrative field research is that its rich, variegated, nuanced, and often conflicting textual information, what Geertz famously called thick descriptions, simultaneously presents challenges to preconceived ideas and grist for insight. There are many ways to engage in story-based research. Field-based story research is always improvisational. A deep irony of the Citizen-Agent Narrative is that by rejecting their assigned role as faithful policy implementers, street-level workers can make the formal apparatus of the state work for clients, citizens, and themselves. It concludes with thoughts on the role of discovery, collaboration, and inconclusiveness that interpretive story analysis enables, particularly in the context of team-based research. In people's research, in addition to imagining a pedagogy of story-based research, they engaged in a series of pragmatic steps to put their ideas about field-intensive story collection and analysis into practice.
