STORIES FOR RESEARCH 329and, in the end, save taxpayer dollars. And it was a happy ending for the worker, who was able to
use his position as an agent of the state to help this one client. 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.
THE REVELATIONS OF SILENCE
This story illustrates one of the central features of storytelling analysis. Interpretation requires
attention to what is not said, but this silence is often only “audible” in contrast to the researcher’s
expectations. We expected to hear stories that placed street-level judgment in the context of the
State-Agent Narrative, and the near absence of these themes opened our ears to what we came to
call the Citizen-Agent Narrative. It is important to note that what appear to the researchers as
themes left out of the stories may not be recognizable as important elements to either the storytell-
ers or others in the research setting. The worker-storytellers did not have the expectations of
hearing the State-Agent Narrative that we carried into the field and did not recognize its absence.
This marks an important difference between stories and some interviews. Interview questions are
typically framed from the perspective of the researcher and, depending on how they are asked,
may guide the respondent to frame an answer in the context of the researcher’s expectations.
Stories more fully retain the storyteller’s point of view.
In “A Happy Ending,” hierarchy and accountability are mentioned but have no influence on
the story’s events or outcomes. The storyteller suggests that the supervisor is deliberately kept in
the dark: “This is one she [the supervisor] does not want to know.” From our field observations
and interviews with the supervisor, we suspect that she most likely not only “knew” about but
also supported the worker’s judgment. This suggests the deliberate and delicate interaction be-
tween worker and supervisor in which the worker carefully protects the supervisor from having to
enforce proper procedure.
Policies are present in the narrative but only to underscore their inadequacies in meeting the
client’s needs. The $740 that could legitimately be provided to help the client purchase the essen-
tial and modest used car underscores the futility of following the rules: “Well, if you have no
money $1,500 might as well be $15 million.” The vocational rehabilitation counselor does use
state resources to meet the client’s needs, but this requires going well beyond what the rules and
policies allow. The story underscores Robert Merton’s (1957) classic point that following rules
and procedures can result in failure for the client and ultimately for the policy. Hierarchy and
policy, although present in the stories, remain part of the setting or context that creates dramatic
tension with the street-level worker’s own judgments. The reference point in this and other narra-
tives is the client, not the policy, and this insight allowed us to hear the Citizen-Agent Narrative.
THOUGHTS ON DISCOVERY, COLLABORATION,
AND INCONCLUSIVENESS
Interpretive and other forms of qualitative research are often dismissed as “exploratory,” the first
and lesser step preparing the way for the more significant work of quantification and hypothesis
testing. But exploration is a most demanding conceptual journey. It requires discipline and rigor
but also an open and inventive mind and the willingness to learn from those we study. The driving
force in interpretive research is not how well our data support our theoretical presuppositions but
how well our interpretations can capture and elucidate social life.
Toward this end, collecting and examining stories provides a powerful means for offering