Speaking Notes

PADM 5502

Dr. Bruce Neubauer

August 27, 2009

CHAPTER ONE HIGHLIGHTS

In Public Administration the purpose of research is usually practical in nature.

There are a number of PA journals. Citations should be from peer-reviewed journals.

There are several "motives" for doing research. A number of them are instrumental.

Usually the intent is to better understand/explain/predict something of importance. This "thing" is a dependent variable (DV).

There are usually a number of other "things" that are thought to cause (or at least affect) the DV of interest. These are independent variables (IVs).

A research effort is guided by one or more RESEARCH QUESTIONS.

There are different kinds of research models. I prefer visual research models.

There is QUALITATIVE and QUANTITATIVE research. Both are important. This course focused on quantitative research.

A research effort usually has multiple HYPOTHESES. There is usually at least one hypothesis per independent variable.

The nature of science is CUMULATIVE. You must do a literature review and build upon what is already known. That being said, nothing is ever "proven" in the social sciences. But the findings of research are valuable in any case and you should build upon what is already known.

A VARIABLE is something that changes among instances of the UNIT OF ANALYSIS. Weight is a variable. If the unit of analysis is people, weight is a variable because we do not all weigh the same.

If the DV is essentially a constant, then it is not possible to explain it. With no variance there is nothing to explain.

Variables have values. If vehicle size is the variable the values of the variable are, "subcompact," "compact," "midsize" and "full-size." If gender is the variable, the values are female and male. If age is the variable, the values are numbers from 0 to about 110 (years) or so.

A hypothesis usually anticipates a relationship between an IV and a DV in the aggregate. A hypothesis is usually found to either be supported or not supported. If there are multiple aspects of the DV, a hypothesis can be found to be partially supported.

Research in the social sciences almost always involves people. In most cases Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is required before data can be collected. There are important and valid reasons (ethical and legal) for getting IRB approval before beginning to collect data. Similar review is required for studies involving animals also.

The BIG PICTURE is that this course sets up PADM 5905 and that what you write in this course should feed into your CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT.