American Public Administration Research Approaches: Tracing Our 'Talk' and Our 'Walk'

摘要

At least since early in the 20th century American scholars and practitioners in the field of public administration have been concerned about the field's approach to research. Professionals in the field have offered their responses to those concerns in at least two ways: 1) They have engaged in a conversation about the field's approaches to research. 2) They have developed a history of research practice, a kind of track record of what the field does when it engages in research. This paper reviews both our conversation about research approaches and our history of research practices. It also interprets what our "talk" and our "walk" say about public administration research approaches.