Do Physicists Use Case Studies? Thoughts on Public Administration Research

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Is the case study approach an appropriate methodology in public administration research? In contrast to the views of McCurdy and Cleary (1984), White (1986b), and others, Mary Timney Bailey posits that case study methods are central to the work ofphysics, chemistry, and other hard sciences which those critics seek to emulate in the study of Public Administration. She argues that properly structured case studies will live up to the scientific standards of rigor, including generalizability, transferability, and replicatability. In addition, Bailey addresses the argument against the practitionerfocused research by reasserting Dwight Waldo's contention that a bond exists between theory and practice in public administration. Research methods in public administration have been the subject of ongoing discussion in Public Administration Review in recent years. Articles on this subject include McCurdy and Cleary's (1984) study of doctoral dissertations in public administration, White's (1986b) replication and enhancement of their study, and Stallings's (1986) assessment of doctoral programs in public administration from the perspective of an outsider. White (1986a) also examined the theory-building potential of interpretive and critical research, and Kraemer and Perry (1989) studied the institutional setting for academic research in public administration.