Research Funding Issues for Public Administration

Abstract

The structure and availability of research funding for public administration is a significant obstacle to the development of the field and leaves it at risk of fragmented and idiosyncratic scholarship. Most research is unfunded by external sources or is derived from financial support intended for other purposes. Basic research funding available for political science tends not to support public administration themes. Other funding sources, such as interdisciplinary programs, foundation support, and client-oriented research, are valuable resources for public administration research, but may not serve well for meeting the basic research needs of the field. Issues of basic research, methodology, and long-term data set availability in public administration warrant serious attention. This paper makes a series of recommendations for public administration, political science, and allied fields.