GraphQL response - cant get data from object

Question

I have returned data using GraphQL / curl that looks like this:

{
  "data" : {
    "publisher" : {
      "contracts" : {
        "totalCount" : 11,
        "count" : 1,
        "resultList" : [

I want to get the resultList array and keep getting an error 'Warning: Attempt to read property "data" on string' when trying to do $result->data to move into the first object. What am I doing wrong?

My variable from the curl request is $result.

Am i being thick?

I tried the attached solution but im now getting an INT value. Not solved.