Customer Reviews

Research Methods in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

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This is the best book out there for PA and NPO students and professionals! It is a easy read, with lot's of explanations and definiations. This book is for the beginner, it's laid out very well, in and easy to understand fashion. I was lost until I found this book.
- SFSU MPA graduate student

As a reader and a graduating student of Master of Public Admin program, I find this book is very helpful and well written. Even though there are some minor mistakes in its editing (which is commonly seen in modern publication & I should note the version of the book I possess does not have the error which someone pointed out on pg 94. I am not sure how that is possible since my copy is a first edition.), the book provides understandable, useful, comprehensive and detail-orientated understanding of various research methods to its readers. It is especially helpful to those who actually apply quantitative and qualitative research methods in their daily work. This doesn't mean that the book is lacking in theological foundations for its readers. In fact, part 1 & 2 of the book did a good job analyzing some "ground roles" of social research methods. As well, future sections expand on this in-depth introduction to the theories of different approaches. Social research is a very controversial subject matter; there are still many existing debates about whether social research is scientific. Indeed, the author always tries not to fool readers by only providing a singular understanding of concepts. If this is interpreted as "making no sense," then, one may think that $73.93 costs too much. This book is so rich and juicy in both theological and practical ways; one may think it is somewhat too conceptual. However, the concepts are not the creation of the author. Furthermore, one who believes it to be too conceptual should ask himself/herself whether the world itself is too conceptual to understand or if he/she is just too na?ve(..)

I concur with the reader from San Francisco. I was lost until this book was assigned. Finally an author who doesn't ramble on for chapters without say anything. McNabb is to the point and explains quantitative and qualitative approaches with ease. This is what most students dream of. The book is excellent, even considering the typos and mispelled words.

-2nd Year MPA, The Evergreen State College.

The aim of this book is straightforward (Page 9): ". . .to provide in one location information about how to design, conduct, interpret, and report on research projects. It has been written to serve as a tool for reading and writing on any administrative or social science discipline or topic." Knowing how to carry out effective research is a critical skill in public administration. This book does a decent job of giving appropriate tools for doing research.

The first part considers the foundations of research as tied to the study of public administration (and nonprofit organizations). Topics explored include the nature of the research process and ethical issues at stake in carrying out research (including human subjects issues). Part 2 introduces the reader to the research process. What are the steps in doing research? How would we formulate research problem? Finally, what design or combination of designs should we use? Qualitative? Quantitative? Or a combination?

Part 3 explores quantitative designs, including the importance of statistics, sampling, and the use of questionnaires. The next part is intimately associated with Part 3--appropriate statistics to use to analyze data that have been collected (recall: data are plural; datum is singular). Among subjects covered in this part, chapter by chapter--descriptive statistics; tables, charts, and graphs; research hypotheses; testing hypotheses about two or more groups; looking for relationships; experiments and experimental design; and--dear to the heart of those who do statistical analysis--using SPSS (a common statistics software package).

One very positive feature of this text is a lengthy discussion of qualitative research, often given short shrift in textbooks. Among techniques considered: case study; grounded theory; ethnography; action research. There follows Part 6, focusing on how to analyze qualitative data.

Of course, if you can't communicate findings effectively--no matter how powerful the research design and data analysis--then your work won't likely have the desired impact. So, Part 7 addresses how to prepare and present research findings.

The writing is functional, but don't expect a soaring literary product. The detailed focus on qualitative methods is a real plus. All in all, a good, solid textbook.

In terms of subject matter I found this book very hard to approach. I received my Bachelors from Indiana University Bloomington and completed roughly 7 courses in scientific reasoning, statistics, survey design etc. Numerous concepts make little to no sense in light of scientific reasoning (which may make sense in administrative reasoning ahem or lack there of), and the author seems to define research methods as he sees fit. But I admit some people may enjoy a new method etc so if this were my only concern it would be a minor annoyance. But here is the major problem, in my version of this text there are major typos and misspellings on roughly every third page. I don't just mean embedded in the text. There is a bold 16 inch font heading entitled Cambined Research Designs -see page 94. If I submitted a paper with even two or three similar typos for grading I would have been lucky to receive a C. Look elsewhere unless you are a real glutton for punishment or are interested in studying American stupidity of the late twentieth and early twenty first century.