My php is showing a numeric value for my list field...Why? In a form I'm trying to take a value a user selected from a radio button and compare it with what's in the database. The value for the radio button is stored in $form_state['storage']['level']. 

The list field in my resource type for this set of items is set as follows:

Novice|Novice
Experienced|Experienced
Professional|Professional

And yet, when I echo out the value in $form_state['storage']['level'] it just gives me what appears to be the delta and not the value of the field. Would someone please enlighten me as to how the value is obtained in php code?
Try using $form_state['values'] instead of $form_state['storage'].

Check out the $form_state keys for a bit more information.