People remember stories: research, evidence and policy

Research evidence claims trust above other sorts of evidence precisely because it claims quality based on robust, rigorous and impartial methods. But at the same time, we know that stories about individuals or events can be an important element in how policy-makers, and indeed all of us, understand the world and use this understanding to develop and assess policy ideas, plans and options. This paper explores these issues through a focus on recent and current poverty research.