Public Administration Research Methods: Tools for Evaluation and Evidence-Based Practice

The best decisions made by public sector 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 sector manager are often, therefore, based on the need for rigorous, actionable research. In this major new 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. 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.

Readers of the print book will also have automatic access to an interactive electronic version, which will include not only hyperlinks to further reading, but access to a series of data sets to enable practice using the statistical methodologies outlined in the text.

Public Administration Research Methods: Tools for Evaluation and Evidence-Based Practice is the most accessible and comprehensive research methods textbook available to students of Public Administration and will be essential reading not only to students during their studies, but also as a companion in their future careers

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 Associate Professor and Executive Director of the Buechner Institute for Governance at the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado–Denver. His research specialization areas include disaster policy and management, homeland security policy and administration, and environmental regulatory policy.

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.