The State of Network Research in Public Administration

The wide use of networks warrants a closer examination of network research in public administration. This article focuses on the methodological issues of network research and examines how social network analysis has been used and can be used to advance network research in public administration. Through a content analysis of 81 network articles, we found that the topics examined through network analysis have become more diverse in recent years. Yet relatively few articles have examined the intersection of policy networks, governance networks, and collaborative networks. The field needs more mixed-methods research designs and more research on the substructures of networks and multilevel networks.