Is public administration an art or a science? This question of whether the field is driven by values or facts will never be definitively answered due to a lack of consensus among scholars. The resulting divide has produced many heated debates; however, in this pioneering volume, Norma Riccucci embraces the diversity of research methods rather than suggesting that there is one best way to conduct research in public administration.

Public Administration examines the intellectual origins and identity of the discipline of public administration, its diverse research traditions, and how public administration research is conducted today. The book’s intended purpose is to engage reasonable-minded public administration scholars and professionals in a dialogue on the importance of heterogeneity in epistemic traditions, and to deepen the field’s understanding and acceptance of its epistemological scope. This important book will provide a necessary overview of the discipline for graduate students and scholars.

Norma M. Riccucci is a professor of public administration at Rutgers University, Newark. She is the author of Unsung Heroes: Federal Execucrats Making a Difference and How Management Matters: Street-Level Bureaucrats and Welfare Reform which won the 2009 Herbert Simon Book Award from the American Political Science Association.

Introduction

1. Intellectual Heritage and Theoretical Developments: Is Public Administration an Art or a Science?

2. Searching for a Paradigm: Public Administration as a Postnormal Science

3. Identity Crises in the Social Sciences

4. Searching for Truth: The Logic of Inquiry in Public Administration

5. Theory Building through Qualitative Approaches 6. Theory Building through Quantitative Research

7. Theory Building through Mixed-Methods Research

8. Heterogeneity in Epistemic Traditions

References

Index