diff --git a/app/SchemaValidator.php b/app/SchemaValidator.php
index 6511dbe..50fbfd6 100644
--- a/app/SchemaValidator.php
+++ b/app/SchemaValidator.php
@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@
  * @method static array|object getSchemaContents(string $relativeUri, bool $associative = true)
  * @method static void putSchemaContents(string $relativeUri, array|object $schema)
  * @method static string registerRawSchema(bool|object|string $schema)
- * @method static bool validate(array|object $data, string $schema)
- * @method static bool validateOrThrow(string|array|object $data, string $schema, string $exceptionMessage = null, bool $appendValidationDescriptions = false, int $failureHttpStatusCode = Response::HTTP_BAD_REQUEST)
+ * @method static bool validate(mixed $data, string $schema)
+ * @method static bool validateOrThrow(mixed $data, string $schema, string $exceptionMessage = null, bool $appendValidationDescriptions = false, int $failureHttpStatusCode = Response::HTTP_BAD_REQUEST)
+ * @method static bool validateEncodedStringOrThrow(mixed $data, string $schema, string $exceptionMessage = null, bool $appendValidationDescriptions = false, int $failureHttpStatusCode = Response::HTTP_BAD_REQUEST)
  */
 class SchemaValidator extends Facade
 {
diff --git a/app/SchemaValidatorService.php b/app/SchemaValidatorService.php
index 678d0ea..e985b6a 100644
--- a/app/SchemaValidatorService.php
+++ b/app/SchemaValidatorService.php
@@ -138,6 +138,24 @@ public function validateOrThrow(
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * This method will attempt to validate the provided JSON-encoded string against the provided schema.
+     */
+    public function validateEncodedStringOrThrow(
+        string $data,
+        $schema,
+        string $exceptionMessage = null,
+        bool $appendValidationDescriptions = false,
+        int $failureHttpStatusCode = Response::HTTP_BAD_REQUEST,
+    ): bool
+    {
+        // Using the non-associative decode is both how Opis documents it
+        // https://opis.io/json-schema/2.x/quick-start.html
+        // and is known to avoid `{}` vs `[]` confusion
+        $decodedData = json_decode($data, associative: false, flags: JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
+        return $this->validateOrThrow($decodedData, $schema, $exceptionMessage, $appendValidationDescriptions, $failureHttpStatusCode);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Given anything that Opis can use as a schema (object, boolean, json-encoded string)
      * register the schema into our namespace, so it can safely contain relative links of its own.
diff --git a/tests/Feature/SchemaValidatorServiceTest.php b/tests/Feature/SchemaValidatorServiceTest.php
index 945ed4d..e0a18a0 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/SchemaValidatorServiceTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/SchemaValidatorServiceTest.php
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 namespace Tests\Feature;
 
+use Carsdotcom\JsonSchemaValidation\Exceptions\JsonSchemaValidationException;
 use Carsdotcom\JsonSchemaValidation\SchemaValidatorService;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Config;
 use Opis\JsonSchema\Exceptions\UnresolvedReferenceException;
@@ -87,4 +88,38 @@ public function testRegisterRawSchema(): void
         self::assertStringStartsWith(Config::get('json-schema.base_url'), $absoluteRaw);
         self::assertTrue($validator->validate($vins, $absoluteRaw));
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider provideValidateEncodedStringOrThrow
+     */
+    public function testValidateEncodedStringOrThrow(string $encodedData, mixed $schema, bool $expectedSuccess): void
+    {
+        $validator = new SchemaValidatorService();
+
+        try {
+            self::assertTrue($validator->validateEncodedStringOrThrow($encodedData, $schema));
+            if (!$expectedSuccess) {
+                self::fail("Should have thrown JsonSchemaValidationException");
+            }
+        } catch (JsonSchemaValidationException $e) {
+            if ($expectedSuccess) {
+                self::assertTrue(false, "Expected success, instead got " . $e->errorsAsMultilineString());
+            } else {
+                self::addToAssertionCount(1);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function provideValidateEncodedStringOrThrow(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'primitive, string schema' => ['420', '{"type": "number", "minimum": 69}', true],
+            'primitive, string schema fails' => ['42', '{"type": "number", "minimum": 69}', false],
+            'empty object is still an object' => ['{}', '{"type": "object"}', true],
+            'empty object is not an array' => ['{}', '{"type": "array"}', false],
+            'typical complex object, success' => ['{"a":1}', '{"type":"object","properties":{"a":{"type":"number"}}, "required":["a"]}', true],
+            'typical complex object, failure' => ['{"b":1}', '{"type":"object","properties":{"a":{"type":"number"}}, "required":["a"]}', false],
+        ];
+    }
+
 }