Research in Public Administration: Reflections on Theory and Practice

By Jay D. White and Guy B. Adams

Book Overview

Published in association with the American Society for Public Administration Research in Public Administration offers a comprehensive view of research in the field of public administration. Published in association with the American Society for Public Administration, this volume combines the contributions of distinguished figures in public administration. Jay D. White and Guy B. Adams gathered this compelling collection of articles with the aspiration that this volume will generate the critical mass necessary to advance the discourse and dialogue about appropriate methods, standards, and epistemologies for research in the field. The rationality of scientific knowledge is predicated on practical discourse, discussion, debate, deliberation, and argumentation over what is true or false, good or bad, right or wrong, and what should be desired. The authors′ common concern for improving academic research and professional practice resulted in this collection of essays between the covers of one outstanding volume. This book will be of considerable interest to all students, researchers, scholars and professionals in public administration and related fields. "The subject of this book--research--not only probes the basics of the field, it crucially defines them, often in rugged struggles. The articles that follow in this book provide more detached and graphically complete histories and commentaries than this prefatory sketch allows. These studies support one common conclusion: in the field of public affairs and administration, methodologies and understandings of and about them--by researchers and users alike--make enormous differences in knowledge and what is done with it." --from the Foreword by Chester A. Newland "If as some administrative scholars say, we live in a ′refounding era,′ then surely Professors Jay D. White and Guy B. Adams in Research in Public Administration have done a genuine service by helping to clarify the main lines of debate and controversy today in public administration research. Here scholars and doctoral students alike will find a rich intellectual feast that I believe may well stimulate our field to move beyond the old-fashioned--dead?--positivist paradigm, and create something new." --Richard Stillman, University of Colorado, Denver "Throughout the history of public administration in this country, scholars and practitioners have debated questions about the nature of research in the field. That debate has been particularly intense in the last decade or so, as challenges to the positivist domination of the field have been raised and as we have continued to struggle with concerns for theory versus practice. This collection brings together the best contributions to the recent debate and thus constitutes a superb compendium of materials attesting to the appropriate diversity of research perspectives in public administration. Research in Public Administration should be required reading." --Robert B. Denhardt, University of Central Florida "White and Adams bring together major contributions to a recent, very important debate over the adequacy of research in public administration and over the best ways of improving that research. Together with their analytical commentary, their compilation of these materials provides a valuable resource for scholars, students, and thoughtful practitioners in our field. Among other uses, this book will become standard reading in our doctoral seminars." --Hal Rainey, University of Georgia "Academicians and practitioners in any field of inquiry must pause periodically for some serious epistemological introspection, or what one contributor to this new book calls self-conscious′ exploration of the fields bellybutton.′ Research in Public Administration is precisely such an endeavour, offering varied judgments on the quality of American research and also exhorting the country′s research community to engage in more meaningful debate of the appropriateness of alternative methodological approaches. . . .This book should be useful to those developing similar research programs in the broader international community." --Local Government Studies

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803956835
• ISBN13: 9780803956834
• Release Date: May 1994
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.3"