The State of Theory in the Study of Public Administration in the United States: Balancing Evidence-Based, Usable Knowledge, and Conceptual Understanding

The study of PA desires to be both scientific and applied. In this article various types of theory are distinguished with attention for how these are prevalent in the study, In an age that evidence-based knowledge and performance measures of scholarly productivity dominate, there is much less attention for conceptualizations of social developments at large. Especially senior scholars can guide their junior colleagues and doctoral students in how to navigate this academic world of production. Big questions can only be addressed through attention for ontology, epistemology and axiology.