Teaching What We Know: Describing and Challenging the Neglect of Management Science Methods in MPA Programs

Abstract

This paper examines typical patterns of instruction in quantitative methods in master of public administration programs. Based on a large-scale survey, it finds a strong preference for social statistics methods over management science ones. Instructors’ training and experience, lack of familiarity with management science methods, and the accommodation of competing programmatic goals may help explain the difference in emphasis. Management science methods are suitable aids for administrative decisions, including ones based on little data or subjective judgment, and ones that must be made quickly. Consequently, the 78 percent of instructors who want their students to “gain skills useful for day-to-day administrative decision making” may find management science methods to be a valuable complement to conventional social statistics.