Research & Library Skills for Public Administration

1. Research & Library Skills for Public Administration Online MPA ResidencyJanuary 11, 2014 Bill Leach, PhD (with pieces borrowed from Chris Weare )

2. Links and References Available at: http://usc-mpa-spring2014.wikispaces.com/page1

3. Learning Objectives • Philosophical • Role of Research in Public Administration • Hands-on • Reading skills • Interview skills • Library skills • ▪ Small group exercise

4. 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

5. Research permeates all decisions by public and non-profit organizations • Budgets • Political strategies • Grant proposals • New or revised policies • New or revised programs • New or revised organizations

6. 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

7. Descriptive Research • Documenting facts about current states or past trends • For defining problems or setting agendas

8. Explanatory Research • 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

9. 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

10. An Ethos for Research in Public Administration • 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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”)

14. Credibility Heuristics Literature Reviews & Meta-analyses Peer-reviewed primary research Non-peer reviewed primary research > Source matters Higher Lower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources

15. Credibility Heuristics – By Source • 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 Higher Lower

16. 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

17. 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."

18. Plagiarism – Policies and Guidance • Graduated sanctions, from “F” to expulsion • “SCampus” official policy:http://web-app.usc.edu/scampus/1100-behavior-violating-university-standards-and-appropriate-sanctions • “Avoiding Plagiarism” by USC Student Affairs:http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/student-conduct/ug_plag.htm

19. Hands-on Research Skills

20. 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, de facto rules • New and developing fields • Hypotheses to be tested • A critical career skill!

21. 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, Semi-structured Interview: An (Almost) Operational Guide.” In Wildavsky, ed., Craftways, 1993).

22. Do’s and Don’ts • Do: • 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: • Misrepresent yourself or your purposes; don’t feign general interest • Interrogate • Ask leading questions • Affirm or contradict statements by interviewee

23. 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

24. Reading Abstracts of Journal Articles • Research Question (puzzle to be solved) • Methods- empirical setting- hypothesis • Results (data analysis and findings) • Conclusions and implications

25. Concepts vs. Measures Concept Measure

26. Multiple Measures Concept Measure 2 Measure 1 Measure 3

27. Diagramming a Hypothesis Independent Variable (Conceptualized) Dependent Variable (Conceptualized) Independent Variable (Operationalized) Dependent Variable (Operationalized)

28. 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.

29. USC Library Resources

30. Distance Learning Resources

31. Instructional Videos

32. Library Overview Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZKPIVH_WTus

33. Google Scholar Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rsFdeyvgMSY

34. Do not fear the Internet • Embrace search engines • Wikipedia is a good place to start • Google Scholar for academic sources

35. Jumping in . . . Research is a craft best learned throughexperience.

36. Small Group Exercise #1 • Reading Abstracts • Diagramming hypotheses

37. Small Group Exercise #2 • Step 1. Read passage. Mark all phrases that would be stronger with specific data or citation. • Step 2. Go find the data and/or citations using Google Search, Google Scholar, etc. • Step 3. Rewrite and cite as needed to make the passage more specific (interesting) and verifiable.