Organizations advocating for federal, state, and local level support for adult education have long relied on the power of individual story to influence both public perception and public policy. They have developed training programs, provided advocacy toolkits, and organized visits with policy makers in order to promote and sustain awareness of the benefits of adult education for the lives of individuals and the fabric of the community as a whole. At the same time, decision makers across the political spectrum have increasingly come to rely on research to inform the process known as evidence-based policymaking. How can the adult education field "prioritize rigorous research findings" that inform evidence-based policymaking, while also taking advantage of the persuasive power of the "anecdotes" that those affected by the policies can provide? This paper identifies two strategies that researchers can employ to reconcile the two and proposes three areas of current interest where those strategies might be used to good effect.