Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This presentation will report the final data from a systematic mixed-methods review of ten years of articles in key public administration journals purposefully selected from the four leading public administration membership association: the Association for Public Policy and Management (APPAM), Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM); the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Actions (ARNOVA), Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ); the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), Public Administration Review (PAR); and the Public Management Research Association (PMRA), Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART). This study was a collaborative exercise in a doctoral level research design course that was extended over several months beyond the class. The primary aim was to identify possible methodological training needs for public administration curricula with disciplinary differences and current trends in mind. A total of 2,074 articles published from 2006 to 2016 were randomly assigned to 21 coder pairs for review. Data was collected via Qualtrics Survey Software. The data extraction form included closed-ended items and open-ended items for retrieving text segments and adding commentary. Discrepancies between coder pairs were reconciled during several agreement workshops. After cleaning and processing the data, descriptive statistics were used to answer these research questions: (1) What proportion of articles published are sole authored vs. multi-authored? Does this vary by journal or type of article? (2) Is there a relationship between the number of coauthors and the number of citations? Does this differ by journal? (3) Where are the authors located? Does this vary by journal? (4) What proportion of articles published in public administration journals have clearly identifiable method sections, stated research questions, sampling approach, data type and method? (5) Do the types of research published in journals of public administration member organizations differ? How? What are the commonalities and differences between journals over time? What questions and methods are preferred? What questions and methods are absent? The implications of these findings for public administration teaching methods will be discussed.