Research Methods in Public Administration and Public Management

An Introduction

Sandra van Thiel

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000429862
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Research in Public Administration and Public Management has distinctive features that influence the choices and application of research methods. The standard methodologies for researching from the social sciences can be difficult to follow in the complex world of the public sector. In a dynamic political context, the focus lies on solving societal problems whilst also using methodological principles to do scientifically sound research.

The second edition of Research Methods in Public Administration and Public Management represents a comprehensive guide to undertaking and using research in Public Management and Administration. It is succinct but covers a wide variety of research strategies, including action research, experiments, case studies, desk research, systematic literature reviews and more. It pays attention to issues of design, sampling, research ethics and data management. This textbook does explain the role of theory, but also offers many international examples and practical exercises. It takes the reader through the journey of research, starting with the problem definition, choice of theory, research design options and tools to achieve impactful research.

New and revised material includes, but is not limited to:

• 
  
  

• A closer look at popular methods like the experiment and the systematic literature review;

• 
  
  

• A deeper examination of research ethics and data management;

• 
  
  

• New examples from a wide range of countries;

• 
  
  

• Updated 'Further Reading' material and additional useful websites.

This exciting new edition will be core reading for students at all levels as well as practitioners who are carrying out research on Public Management and Administration.

Chapter 1
Research in Public Administration

Public Administration studies the functioning and management of government bodies and other public sector organizations. As such, it is not unique: other disciplines study this subject as well. Public Administration distinguishes itself, though, by analysing the public sector from multiple angles in an integrated manner. In other words, it is interdisciplinary in character, synergizing knowledge from various disciplines – or, put more modestly, it is multidisciplinary, juxtaposing insights from different disciplines.

Public Administration builds on different disciplines, mostly law, economics, political science and sociology, and more recently also psychology and business administration. Not only does it make use of the theories in these fields, it also applies the associated methods and techniques. However, the distinctive features of Public Administration mean that researchers use these methods and techniques in their own particular way. A separate textbook on research in Public Administration is therefore called for (cf. McNabb, 2013; Miller & Whicker, 1998).

What are these unique features of Public Administration research? This forms the subject of the present chapter.

1.1 THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF RESEARCH IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Apart from its interdisciplinary approach, Public Administration research has three other distinctive features. These unique attributes all influence the way in which research is conducted.

The first feature has to do with the central object of knowledge of Public Administration, that is, the public sector. In the past few decades, the definition of what is generally regarded as the public sector has grown ever wider. Indeed, it has evolved into much more than just ‘the government’ in a narrow sense, for instance, politicians and civil servants. In particular, since the early 1980s, the sector of semi-government has increased rapidly in size – examples of new elements are independent executive agencies, private non-profit organizations, such as charities and NGOs, and state-owned enterprises. In addition, citizens, interest groups, civil societies and companies are ever more actively involved in policy development and decision-making (Osborne, 2009). As a consequence of all this, Public Administration concerns itself with an ever-wider array of subjects, which can range from things like the construction of a new infrastructure, to local police policies, political leadership, the voting behaviour of citizens, departmental reshuffling, assigning funds for scientific research, international security policy, to the privatization of the postal services (see Box 1.1 for more examples).

As will be clear from this list, many of the research subjects in Public Administration are unique. As a rule, there is only one national airport, one system for national elections (for example, proportional representation) and one president or prime minister. What is more, when it comes to certain other subjects, such as regional governments, coalition parties and universities, the number of cases often tends to be small. On the one hand, this will make research easier: it is clear which organizations or respondents have to be included in a study. On the other hand, drawing any firm conclusions will be difficult, as material for comparison is not available, which may hamper the translation of research results to other situations or general theories (see Chapter 4 on validity). Because of this, researchers in Public Administration often have to use special methods that allow for drawing scientifically sound inferences on the basis of subjects which are unique or rare. The case study is therefore a typical example of a method frequently applied in Public Administration research (see Chapter 8).

BOX 1.1 EXAMPLES OF PREVALENT TOPICS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

• ■ New Public Management (NPM) comprises a range of reform measures that were first introduced into the public sector in the 1980s. NPM encompasses business management techniques such as performance measurement, benchmarking, one-stop shops, vouchers, structural disaggregation of government units (into semi-autonomous agencies, or even privatization of state-owned enterprises) and much more. Numerous publications deal with the reasons governments have adopted such reform measures, how they have been implemented and what results have been achieved. For a seminal article, see Hood (1991). These days, the debate often focuses on the question whether NPM is still alive and kicking (Lapsley, 2008), or whether we have entered the post-NPM era (Christensen & Laegreid, 2008; Osborne, 2009).
• ■ Co-production refers to the fact that policies cannot be developed and decided upon by politicians or civil servants alone; citizens need to cooperate as well. For example, the redevelopment of disadvantaged neighbourhoods has a bigger chance of success if local inhabitants support the policy measures to be taken: support can be created by involving citizens in the decision-making process. Co-production goes beyond consultation, as it requires active citizen involvement from the earliest stages of policymaking. The questions of how government officials can achieve true co-production and what the consequences are for democratic accountability processes usually occupy a central place in publications that deal with this topic (see work by Pestoff, amongst others, for more information).
• ■ Crisis management has become an important topic in the wake of the financial and COVID-19 crisis. How these crises came about and which role governments may have played in combatting them are topics of study. National governments have responded very differently, for example by nationalizing the banks in 2008 and offering financial aid in 2020. Public leadership became an important factor, but international differences between countries are also of interest to researchers. A third strand of research focuses on the weighing of different public values: economic development and health protection, but also effects on sustainability and the climate transition.
• ■ Leadership in the public sector by politicians and top civil servants is a subject that has been studied extensively (see, for example, the work carried out by Downs in the 1960s). There are numerous theories on leadership, with each theory describing a different leadership style. Recently, the research done by Bass (1990) on transformational leadership has received much attention: transformational leaders have a clear vision of what needs to be done, which they can communicate well. Moreover, transformational leaders exhibit a high level of trust in their employees. By empowering employees to act and decide autonomously, such leaders promote self-actualization (a term developed by Maslow) in their employees.
• ■ As a consequence of the processes of globalization, there are ever more governmental actors involved in the development and implementation of policies. See, for example, the transposition of European Union (EU) directives into national legislation, the rise of international markets or cross-border forms of cooperation, in addition to other phenomena such as traditional military cooperation, within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN). Multi-level governance (see, for instance, the work carried out by Marks and Hooghe) and Europeanization (see the research by Majone, Knill or Scharpf) are but a few of the strands of literature that deal with the consequences of globalization and the effects it has on central (and local) governments.

As will be clear from this list, many research subjects in Public Administration are unique. For example, there is only one central bank, one system for national elections (e.g., proportional representation) and one president or prime minister. What is more, when it comes to certain other subjects, such as regional governments, coalition parties and executive agencies, the number of cases often tends to be small. On the one hand, this will make research easier; it is clear which organizations or respondents have to be included in a study. On the other hand, drawing firm conclusions will be difficult, as material for comparison is not available, which may hamper the generalization of research results to other situations or translating them into theory (see Chapter 4 on validity). Because of this, researchers in Public Administration and Public Management often have to use special methods that allow for drawing scientifically sound inferences on the basis of subjects that are singular, unique or rare. The case study is a typical example of a method frequently applied in Public Administration research (see Chapter 8).

That research in Public Administration often involves but a limited number of cases does not necessarily mean that the amount of data to be processed is always small. Quite the contrary, in fact: many subjects of study will turn out to be extremely complex and substantive. Consider, for example, a study on decision-making. In principle, a decision can be reduced to a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, yet in practice the situation is frequently complicated. Usually, several different actors are involved in the decision-making process, such as politicians, civil servants, interest groups, companies and international organizations. Each of these parties will have their own interests and beliefs, which all have to be incorporated into the decision finally made. Indeed, research on decision-making often comprises a large amount of information on numerous actors, who interact with each other for a prolonged period of time, in order to reach a shared decision in the end (Koppenjan & Klijn, 2004). This means that a unique case can generate a sizeable body of data.

The second unique feature of research in Public Administration has to do with its applied nature. Public Administration is still a relatively young discipline, and research typically concentrates on finding solutions to topical issues in the public sector (Ricucci, 2010). Stated differently, Public Administration researchers usually do not study subjects in a laboratory setting (but see Chapter 6); rather, they tend to concern themselves with problems situated in everyday reality (Robson & McCartan, 2016). Moreover, they are frequently hired by organizations or policymakers to address a certain problem or to give specific advice. When researchers convert the knowledge they have acquired into recommendations or suggested solutions (see Chapter 12), they move from an empirical method to a more normative one. Legal research is a typical example of this: on the basis of the analysis of legal rules, advice is given on how to proceed. However, as we shall see in Chapter 3, not all researchers find making recommendations or giving advice an equally useful or worthy purpose.

The applied nature of PA research points to a third important characteristic of Public Administration – namely, its limited body of knowledge. Public Administration has thus produced only a few big theories of its own. Of course, exceptions can be mentioned, for example Public Service Motivation (Perry & Wise, 1990), network theory (Kickert, Klijn, & Koppenjan, 1997), and New Public Governance (Osborne, 2009). Having said this, most theories used by researchers in Public Administration originate in the parent disciplines (for an overview, see the various handbooks, such as Dryzek, Honig, & Phillips, 2006; Moran, Rein, & Goodin, 2006; and Ferlie, Lynn, & Pollitt, 2007).

This lack of an own body of theory can partly be explained by Public Administration being such a young discipline (Ricucci, 2010). What is more, research tends to follow the changes and developments taking place in the public sector: such trends often set the research agenda. Political and societal problems can prompt new subjects of study, too. Think, for example, of the rise of New Public Management, the response to acts of terrorism after 9/11 and, more recently, the effects of the financial crisis and the COVID-19 crisis (compare Box 1.1). All in all, therefore, Public Administration focuses more on finding solutions to everyday problems than developing new or big theories. If we add the fact that many of its study subjects are unique – which makes generalized, theoretical advancement difficult at any rate – it will be clear that research in Public Administration is more often practical in nature than theory-oriented.

Taken together, the distinctive features of Public Administration lead to a predominant use of methods which are suitable for studying a small number of cases, and which allow for a direct application of results to everyday practice. This does not, however, preclude research also being conducted into historical subjects (over time) or the application of statistical techniques in large-scale studies. Likewise, fundamental research – which focuses purely on the development of new theories – is frequently carried out, as we shall see later on. Still, the features described earlier typify the nature of mainstream research in Public Administration (Pollitt, 2006; Perry, 2012).

1.2 RESEARCH IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY

As we have seen, research in Public Administration aims to study and find solutions to topical issues and problems in the public sector. Such issues and problems can concern a broad range of subjects, such as the success or failure of social integration, improving government efficiency, determining the right composition of a government coalition, predicting the consequences of population ageing, or contracting out the construction of new roads or housing estates. What these subjects have in common is that they all revolve around public policy, whether it concerns the development and design of new policies, the implementation of existing ones or the evaluation of the effects of policies applied in the past.

Public Administration conducts research both into policy and for policy, and it studies all aspects of the policy cycle, from the very beginning of setting the policy agenda to the possible termination of a policy. Roughly speaking, we can distinguish between: (1) research in which public policy is the subject of study; (2) research that has a certain policy as its outcome; and (3) research that feeds into the policymaking process (Pawson & Tilley, 2004; Parsons, 1995). Often these different research aims interconnect, and one study can fulfil multiple purposes. In Chapter 12 I shall elaborate on this point, and also discuss the fact that the findings of policy-oriented research are not always acknowledged or applied in practice. Regrettably, recommendations made by researchers in Public Administration are frequently mothballed.

Policy as a subject of research

In research where public policy forms the subject of study, policies are usually regarded as instruments or methods to achieve certain goals (Parsons, 1995, p. xv). The policy content is less relevant in this case. Different types of policy spring to mind here: laws and regulations, subsidies and contracts, but also matters such as the best way of structurally designing a public–private partnership, or even the application of management techniques by organizations in order to reach a certain policy objective.

Research in Public Administration that concentrates on policy as the subject aims to contribute to better insight into and a more efficient use o...