Public Administration Research Methods ─ Tools for Evaluation and Evidence-based Practice

The best decisions made by public managers are based not on instinct, but on an informed understanding of what’s happening on the ground. Policy may be directed by ideology, but it must also be founded on reality. The challenge of making the right decisions as a public manager is often, therefore, based on the need for rigorous, actionable research. In this textbook, Eller, Gerber, and Robinson show students of Public Administration exactly how to use both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to give them the best chance to make the right decisions.

Uniquely, the book presents the various methodologies through a series of real-life case studies, with each chapter exploring the types of situations where a public sector manager can use research to answer specific questions, and how that research can inform future policy. Taking readers through the key concepts, from research design and sampling to interviews, survey data, and more statistical-based approaches, the book builds to provide the complete guide to using research in the public and voluntary sectors. New to this edition:

• To better orient the student, the second edition is thematically arranged. Five sections, each providing a short essay, provide not only previews of the content of each section, but more importantly guide the reader through how the concepts and techniques covered relate to real-world use and application.
• A new chapter on applied quantitative analyses has also been added to offer coverage of several commonly-used and useful analytic techniques for decision making for policy and management: benefit-cost analysis, risk assessment, and forecasting.
• The second edition is accompanied by a companion website containing suggested course plans and sample syllabi, PowerPoint lecture slides, and homework and exam questions, reference materials to illustrate concepts covered, and ‘self test’ problems to illustrate the use of key concepts and analytic techniques.

Each chapter also includes discussion questions, class exercises, end of chapter review questions, and key vocabulary to provide students with a range of further tools to apply research principles to practical situations.

Warren S. Eller is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management, and Leadership at West Virginia University. His expertise is in the implementation and evaluation of public policy, and he conducts research on crisis and disaster management, response, and recovery.

Brian J. Gerber is Director of the Emergency Management and Homeland Security program in the College of Public Service & Community Solutions and a Senior Sustainability Scholar in the Wrigley School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, USA. His research specialization areas include disaster policy and management, homeland security policy and administration, and environmental regulatory policy. He also serves as an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Scott E. Robinson is the Bellmon Chair of Public Service and Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at University of Oklahoma. His research focuses on emergency management networks, risk perception and political trust, and models of rapid policy change.