UID:
almafu_9959230311102883
Umfang:
1 online resource (xii, 269 pages) :
,
illustrations
Ausgabe:
1st ed.
ISBN:
979-82-16-00786-9
,
1-280-92812-3
,
9786610928125
,
0-313-01159-1
Inhalt:
A simple, straightforward presentation of the concepts, methods, and tools of research in the public sector, emphasizing the "how" of research - how to do it, how to make sense of it--all in one reader-friendly volume stripped of arcane theory and impenetrable mathematics. Without jargon or mathematical theory to hinder a quick understanding and use, here are the research tools and techniques you can grasp and immediately apply to obtain research services from others or do research yourself. Johnson makes clear that to succeed in any public agency management position, you have to be able to think analytically and know how to assess the quality of research results. By providing the underlying concepts and just enough methodology to operationalize them, she gives you exactly what you need--in a clear, straightforward way that takes the fear out of learning. You will find here an especially wide range of practical guidelines and examples, all from the author's own and others' experiences in a variety of settings within the public sector.; Throughout her book she emphasizes the "how" of research--how to do it, how to make sense of its findings--and covers all the basic statistical tools, concentrating steadily on interpreting research results. An important, reader-friendly text for students of public administration, and for their often perplexed colleagues already on the job. Johnson explains that public administrators do not do research themselves all that often. But with the rising demand for results measurement, balancing scorecards, benchmarking and assessing customer satisfaction, they do need to understand the basics of what research is and at least have more than just a glimmer of how it is done. Her book offers both--a simple, easily grasped presentation of research concepts and principles, plus all of the essentials of doing program evaluation, policy analysis, and applied social science. It is especially useful as a text in such courses as research methods, program evaluation and introduction to applied statistics, usually found in public administration programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.; And for people already in jobs outside the academic community, people who are now asked to do tasks that they seldom did before--and never expected they would be asked to do--it is essential
Anmerkung:
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
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Cover -- Research Methods for Public Administrators -- Contents -- Illustrations -- FIGURES -- TABLES -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction: Research Methods for Public Administrators -- INTENTION -- WHY IS RESEARCH IMPORTANT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR? -- WHAT IS RESEARCH? -- TYPES OF RESEARCH -- THE RESEARCH PROCESS -- ETHICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GOOD RESEARCH -- OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK -- 2 Basic Concepts -- THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF SCIENCE -- Theory -- Hypothesis -- Variables -- Variable Values -- RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES -- Direction of Relationships -- Direct Relationship -- Inverse Relationship -- Nonlinear -- THE CHALLENGE OF DETERMINING RELATIONSHIPS -- MEASURING RESULTS: PROGRAM OUTCOME MODEL -- CONCLUSION -- 3 What Is Your Question? -- DETERMINING YOUR QUESTION -- TYPES OF QUESTIONS -- Descriptive Questions -- Normative Questions -- Relationship Questions -- A Logical Theory -- Time Order -- Co-variation -- Elimination of Rival Explanations -- LINKAGE: QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES -- CONCLUSION -- NOTE -- 4 Designing a Research Study -- HOW DOES DESIGN CONNECT TO THE QUESTIONS? -- ELEMENTS OF DESIGN -- Before and After Measures -- Comparison Groups -- Random Assignment -- TYPES OF DESIGN -- Experimental Design -- Quasi-Experimental Designs -- Correlational Design with Statistical Controls -- Interrupted Time Series -- Nonexperimental (or Pre-Experimental) Design -- Pre/Post Without Controls (Also Called Before and After Design) -- Static Group Comparison -- The One-Shot Design -- CASE STUDY -- INTERNAL VALIDITY -- Threats to Internal Validity -- History -- Maturation -- Testing -- Instrumentation -- Regression to the Mean -- Selection -- Attrition -- KEY POINTS ABOUT DESIGN -- CONCLUSION -- 5 Choosing Measures -- DEVELOPING A MEASUREMENT STRATEGY -- Defining Key Terms -- Definition Challenges -- Setting Boundaries -- Operational Definitions.
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KEY ISSUES ABOUT MEASURES -- CONCLUSION -- 6 Data Collection: Observation and Available Data -- DATA COLLECTION: THE DEGREE OF STRUCTURE -- COMMON DATA COLLECTION APPROACHES -- OBSERVATION -- AVAILABLE DATA -- Collecting Data from Existing Reports -- Evaluation Synthesis and Meta-Analysis -- Collecting Data from Paper Files or Records -- Collecting Data from Files and Records: Data Collection Instruments -- Collecting Data from Documents -- Content Analysis -- Collecting Computer Data -- CONCLUSION -- 7 Data Collection: Surveys and Focus Groups -- SURVEY RESEARCH -- In-Person Interviews -- Example of Skip Questions -- Questionnaires -- Response Rate -- FOCUS GROUPS -- Typical Elements of Focus Groups -- How Many Focus Groups? -- CONCLUSION -- 8 Sampling Demystified -- SAMPLING: THE JARGON -- TYPES OF SAMPLES: RANDOM AND NON-RANDOM -- Random Sample -- Types of Random Samples -- Simple Random Sample -- Stratified Random Sample -- Cluster Sample -- Non-Random Sampling -- Types of Non-Random Samples -- Quota -- Accidental -- Snowball -- Judgmental -- Convenience -- Combining Random and Non-Random Sampling -- DETERMINING SAMPLE SIZE FOR RANDOM SAMPLES -- How Large a Sample? -- CONCLUSION -- 9 Data Analysis for Description -- ANALYZING QUALITATIVE DATA -- QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS -- Commonly Used Descriptive Statistics -- Frequency Distribution -- Interpreting the Scales -- Other Descriptive Analysis Techniques -- Rates -- Ratio -- Rate of Change -- Describing Distributions -- Measures of Dispersion -- DESCRIBING TWO VARIABLES AT THE SAME TIME -- Crosstabs or Contingency Tables -- Comparison of Means -- COMMON INTERPRETATION MISTAKES -- 10 Data Analysis: Exploring Relationships -- USING CROSSTABS TO EXAMINE RELATIONSHIPS -- CONTROLLING FOR A THIRD VARIABLE -- EXPLORING RELATIONSHIPS: COMPARISON OF MEANS -- STRENGTH OF RELATIONSHIP.
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Measures of Association -- FREQUENTLY USED MEASURES OF ASSOCIATION -- Crosstab Analysis Using Nominal Data -- Crosstab Analysis or Correlation Analysis Using Ordinal Data -- CORRELATIONS WITH INTERVAL/RATIO DATA -- Regression Analysis -- Multiple Regression -- CONCLUSION -- 11 Data Analysis Using Inferential Statistics -- THE LOGIC OF STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE TESTING -- Potential Errors in Inference: -- Type I Error -- Type II Error -- Directional and Non-Directional Hypotheses -- COMMON TESTS FOR STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE -- Chi-Square -- T-tests: Analyzing the Difference in Means -- Testing a Hypothesis about a Single Mean -- Testing Paired Results: Paired Samples -- Testing a Hypothesis about Two Independent Means -- Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) -- Tests for Statistical Significance in Regression Analysis -- REPORTING RESULTS OF STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE -- CONCLUSION -- 12 Putting the Pieces Together -- HOW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS CAN USE RESEARCH METHODS -- QUALITY ASSURANCE IN RESEARCH -- LIMITATIONS OF QUANTITATIVE TECHNIQUES -- CONCLUSION -- Appendix A The Mathematical Formulae for Selected Statistics -- COMMON COMPARISON TECHNIQUES -- Calculating Rates -- Calculating a Ratio -- Calculating the Rate of Change -- COMMON DESCRIPTIVE TECHNIQUES -- Mean -- Median -- Variance -- Standard Deviation -- Z-Score -- MAKING ESTIMATES USING SAMPLE DATA -- The Confidence Interval -- Sampling Error -- CALCULATING TESTS FOR STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE -- Chi-Square -- T-tests -- Measures of Relationship -- NOTES -- Appendix B Glossary -- Appendix C Merit Principles Survey 2000 -- Appendix D 2000 Citizen Survey Results -- Sampling error -- Representativeness of respondents -- Follow-up on non-respondents -- Neighborhoods -- Results -- Appendix E Guidelines for Reporting Research Results -- GUIDELINES FOR WRITING RESEARCH REPORTS.
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GUIDELINES FOR WRITING AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -- GUIDELINES FOR FORMATTING THE REPORT -- GUIDELINES FOR USING CHARTS AND TABLES -- GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATIONS -- Appendix F Resources -- WEB SITES: -- Index -- About the Author.
,
English
Weitere Ausg.:
ISBN 1-56720-449-X
Sprache:
Englisch
Schlagwort(e):
Electronic books
DOI:
10.5040/9798216007869
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