Research as an Aid in Public Administration
| Date | 01 March 1962 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1962.tb01111.x |
| Published date | 01 March 1962 |
| Author | D. N. Chester |
Research
as
an Aid in Public Administration
D.N.
CHESTER,C.B.E.
This
paper, by
the
Editor,
was
gicen
lo
the
Conference
on
The
Study
and Teaching
of
Public Adminishation’
at
the
University
of
Reading
on
18th
December,
1961
I
must start by attempting to clarify two possible points of confusion.
First,
a
word about the widely differing senses in which the term ‘Public
Administration’ may be used. In its widest sense it may be held to cover
all
aspects of all the services provided by public bodies. At the other
extreme it can be limited
to
what may be labelled
-
the organization and
methods
of
providing the public services.
For
the purpose
of
the present
conference the first is much too wide. Presumably we are not here
to
discuss
research into rare diseases, the strength
of
different metals, or how to
reach and live on the moon.
On the other hand if organization and methods are defined as the kind
of
work normally carried out under the initials
0.
&
M.
then the second
interpretation is obviously much too narrow. It would not, for example,
cover the study
of
the financial relations between central and local govern-
ment, nor of the price and financial policies pursued by the boards of
nationalized industries. Again,
a
thorough study
of
any metropolitan area
would need to bring in economists, sociologists, transport specialists, etc.
in addition to those whose job it is to study and teach public administration.
We have not, however, representatives
of
these other disciplines with
us
at this conference, any more than we have professors
of
medicine or nuclear
physics. Nevertheless, whilst avoiding the widest interpretation,
I
am sure
that my academic colleagues would
wish
the interpretation to be wide
ranging enough
to
cover not merely the decision making process but
also
studies designed to assist the decision makers to make correct
or
more
adequate decisions.
A
second possible point of confusion may arise
from
the
use:
of the word
‘research’. In some ways this is too grandiose
a
label
for
much that
J
am
going to talk about; such phrases as ‘the study
of’
or ‘finding out about’
or even ‘getting down on paper’ are both more modest and more accurate.
Sometimes the phrase ‘original research’ is used, but except in
so
far
as
this draws
a
distinttion between work based on primary
or
original and
not on published material it does not get us much further.
For
the point
I
wish to make
is
this. A great deal of the original material in public
administration is in the heads of serving or retired public officials and one
of
the objects
of
research must
be
to get this material sorted out and
53
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