Research & Library Skills
for Public Administration
Online MPA Residency
January 11, 2014
Bill Leach, PhD
(with pieces borrowed from Chris Weare )
1
Getting the Materials
• Go to:
• http://usc-mpaol-la-residency-spring2013.wikispaces.com/Residency+Research+
Assignment
• Go to Resource-> Residency Research
Assignment
2
Learning Objectives
• Philosophical
– Role of Research in Public Administration
• Hands-on
– Reading skills
– Interview skills
– Library skills
▪ Small group exercise
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Pep Talk
“Do not define yourself by what you know.
Define yourself by what you can find out.”
~ Robert Biller, former dean Price School of Public Policy
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Research permeates all decisions by
public and non-profit organizations
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Budgets
Political strategies
Grant proposals
New or revised policies
New or revised programs
New or revised organizations
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Purposes of Research in PA
I. Administrative
– Chart a course within an organization
II. Political
– Rally the base
– Sway or dissuade fence-sitters
III. Collaborative
– Build consensus among stakeholders
– Support collective action
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Descriptive Research
• Documenting facts
about current states
or past trends
• For defining problems
or setting agendas
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Explanatory Research
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Testing theories about cause-and-effect
Forecasting future trends
Explaining past successes and failures
Useful for:
– Policy analysis (prospective or retrospective)
– Program evaluation or organizational design
– Developing best practices or procedures
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Primary and secondary sources of research
• Primary sources present original research.
– Skills are taught in 502x, 541, 540, 542
• Secondary sources summarize or reinterpret
primary sources.
– These skill permeate the MPA program and are
fully integrated in Capstone
An Ethos for Research
in Public Administration
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Neutral point of view
Verifiable and credible sources
Evidence-based, data-driven, scientific
Uncertainty is highlighted
Methods are public & transparent
Different impacts on different groups highlighted
Research/evaluation is built into PA practice
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Neutrality
• Neutrality means
– Keep an open mind.
– Highlight different points of view.
– Try to learn something (especially something you
didn’t already know).
– Share what you learned and how you learned it.
– Highlight uncertainty.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view
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Verifiable
• Verifiability means that readers can check that
the information comes from a credible source.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability
• Cite your sources
– Author-date or footnotes
– Full citation (APA, MLA, or whatever)
– Do not plagiarize words, data, or ideas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:INTEXT#In-text_attribution
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Credible
Relevance:
– Does the information contribute to understanding
or support a point?
Validity:
– Does a source accurately measure phenomena or
relationships? (“Internal validity”)
– Can the evidence be generalized beyond the study
to be applied in other settings? (“External validity”)
Credibility Heuristics
Higher
Literature Reviews & Meta-analyses
Peer-reviewed primary research
Lower
Non-peer reviewed primary research
> Source matters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources
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Credibility Heuristics – By Source
Higher
Lower
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Prestigious scientific review bodies – IOM, NRC,
Prestigious peer-reviewed journals
Less prestigious peer-reviewed journals
Books by prestigious academic presses
Reports by centrist, or bipartisan think tanks
Reports by government agencies (grey literature)
Books by less-prestigious academic presses
Partisan think tanks or advocacy organizations
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All Sources Have a Point of View
• Fox News vs. MSNBC
• Wall Street Journal vs. New York Times
• Heritage Foundation vs. Center for American
Progress
• Bureau of Reclamation vs. Fish and Wildlife
Service
• School of Public Policy vs. School of Business
Take away: Acknowledge different points of view
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Plagiarism – Two Examples
• "The submission of material authored by another
person but represented as the student's own work,
whether that material is paraphrased or copied in
verbatim or near verbatim form;“
• "Improper acknowledgment of sources in essays or
papers."
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Plagiarism – Policies and Guidance
• Graduated sanctions, from “F” to expulsion
• “SCampus” official policy:
http://web-app.usc.edu/scampus/1100-behavior-violatinguniversity-standards-and-appropriate-sanctions
• “Avoiding Plagiarism” by USC Student Affairs:
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/studentconduct/ug_plag.htm
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Hands-on Research Skills
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Semi-structured Interviews
• For preliminary scoping (getting up to speed fast)
or formal analysis
• For qualitative understanding of complex
phenomena
• For information not available elsewhere
– Organizational processes, politics, defacto rules
– New and developing fields
– Hypotheses to be tested
• A critical career skill!
Basic Technique for Semi-Structured Interviews
• Develop general questions to guide the discussion
• Be prepared to prompt for follow-up questions
(e.g. examples, sequencing).
• Do not be overly directive.
• Be nimble; think on your feet.
• Read Hammer and Wildavsky (“The Open-Ended, Semistructured Interview: An (Almost) Operational Guide.”
In Wildavsky, ed., Craftways, 1993).
Do’s and Don’ts
• Do:
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Your homework. Research the interviewee and the subject, first.
Provide and respect confidentiality.
Be neutral or sympathetic.
Be transparent about your purpose.
Be alert to revealing statements and “quotable” quotes.
Write up notes immediately following.
Schedule the most important interviews later.
Ask your professor about “Human Subjects” exemptions.
• Don’t:
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Misrepresent yourself or your purposes; don’t feign general interest
Interrogate
Ask leading questions
Affirm or contradict statements by interviewee
Skimming a Book (aka gutting a book)
• Quickly ascertain:
– The main thesis of the book
– The main line of argument
– Strength of the argument (Do you like it, and why?)
• Focus on:
– Table of contents, introduction, conclusion
– Chapter and section introductions
– Tables and graphs
– Book reviews
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Reading Abstracts of Journal Articles
• Research Question (puzzle to be solved)
• Methods
- empirical setting
- hypothesis
• Results (data analysis and findings)
• Conclusions and implications
Concepts vs. Measures
Concept
Measure
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Multiple Measures
Concept
Measure
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Measure
2
Measure
3
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Diagramming a Hypothesis
Independent
Variable
(Conceptualized)
Dependent
Variable
(Conceptualized)
Independent
Variable
(Operationalized)
Dependent
Variable
(Operationalized)
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Why is this article so hard to read?
• Field-specific jargon and theory
– PA is interdisciplinary
• Poorly written
• Written by a European
• Written by an academic
– Please don’t write like an academic
– Be clear, concise, direct, authentic
Take away: You belong here.
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USC Library Resources
Distance Learning Resources
Instructional Videos
31
Library Overview Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player
_embedded&v=ZKPIVH_WTus
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Google Scholar Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player
_embedded&v=rsFdeyvgMSY
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Do not fear the Internet
• Embrace search engines
• Wikipedia is a good place to start
• Google Scholar for academic sources
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Jumping in . . .
• Research is a craft best learned through
experience
Small Group Exercise
• Step 1. Read passage. Mark all phrases or sentences
that would be stronger with specific data, or that
need a citation. Rewrite as needed to achieve
neutrality and verifiability.
• Step 2. Go find the data and/or citations using
Google Scholar, other search engines, etc.
• Step 3. Designate a recorder and upload your
answers to wiki.