Centre for Financial & Management Studies (CeFiMS) - University of London

Individual Professional Courses – IPC    

Public Policy and Management Research: Principles & Practice [C208]

Introduction

For students studying for the MSc in Public Policy and Management, successful completion of PPM 205 Policy and Management Research: Principles and Practice is a prerequisite to starting a dissertation.

The dissertation may be on any appropriate topic in the fields of public policy and management. The work does not necessarily have to include the collection of primary data but it has to answer the research question in a rigorous, academic way.

For students intending to write a dissertation the second assignment for PPM 205 is the research proposal for the dissertation, setting out the research question, method, sources and approach.

Aims & Objectives

Public Policy and Management rely heavily on research:

• to test whether policies are effective
• to understand management processes and outcomes
• to understand public opinion and preferences about public services

This course is designed to provide a good grounding in research methods to enable students to design, conduct and evaluate research in a public policy and management context.

Resources

Students receive a looseleaf binder containing eight ‘course units’; these texts are carefully structured to provide the main teaching and are equivalent to traditional course lectures, defining and exploring the main concepts and issues, locating these within current debate and introducing and linking the further assigned readings. There is a CD containing examples of research that are source material for analysing research methods. The Online Study Centre also has supplementary readings and useful links to academic and other resources for this course. Two assignments (to be marked by your CeFiMS tutors), and a specimen examination paper are also included within the student pack, along with the following:

Textbooks:

C. Robson, Real World Research, Second edition, 2002, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 0631213058.

Readings:

A compilation of further readings: recently published articles or seminal writings which augment and illustrate the main text.

Course Timetable:

This shows the linkage between the various components of the course and indicates the schedule for reading the texts, submitting assignments, etc.

Course Content

The field of public policy and management relies heavily on research – to test whether current policies are effective, to evaluate management processes and outcomes and to understand public opinion and preferences about public services. This course is designed to provide a good grounding in research methods to enable you to design, conduct and evaluate research in a public policy and management context, whether in your professional capacity or to submit an academic dissertation. The course units cover the following topics.

• Unit 1 The Nature of Research
  • What is Research – Pure and Practical?
  • The Relationship between Theory, Research and Data
  • Ontological Issues – the Nature of Social Reality
  • Epistemological Issues – the Nature of Knowledge
  • Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods
  • Some Final Comments
  • Glossary of terms
• Unit 2 Planning and Designing Research
  • Planning and Managing Time and Resources
  • Formulating and Focusing the Research Question
  • Choosing a Research Strategy and Design
  • Sampling and Selection
  • Ethical Considerations and Issues of Access
• Unit 3 Reviewing the Literature
  • Introduction
  • The Purpose of Searching and Reviewing Literature
  • Planning your Search of the Literature
  • Recording the Literature
  • Writing a Critical Review
  • Some Common Faults in Literature Reviews
• Unit 4 Survey Research: Using Questionnaires
  • What is a Questionnaire?
  • Types and Administration of Questionnaires
  • Constructing Questionnaires
  • Coding Questions
  • Pilot Testing Questionnaires
  • Ethics in Questionnaire Research
  • Data Analysis
• Unit 5 Using Qualitative Interviews
  • What is an Interview?
  • Types of Research Interview
  • Administration of Interviews
  • When to Use Interviews
  • Designing Research Interviews
  • Conducting Interviews
  • Recording and Transcribing Interviews
  • How Do We Know the Informant is Telling the Truth?
  • Analysing Interview Data
• Unit 6 Non-interventionist Fieldwork: Ethnography and Participant Observation
  • What is Ethnography? An Overview
  • The Emergent Nature of Research Design
  • Identifying the Research Topic and Conducting Fieldwork
  • Roles and Relationships in Field Observation
  • Analysing Data and Writing Ethnographic Accounts
• Unit 7 Interventionist Fieldwork: Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Participatory Evaluation
  • An Overview of Action Research
  • What is Participatory Action Research?
  • Conducting Participatory Evaluation
  • Data Analysis in Dissemination of Results
• Unit 8 Writing and Presenting Research
  • Writing Research Proposals
  • Writing Research Reports
  • Ethics in Reporting Research
  • Evaluating Research Reports

Tuition & Assessment

There will be two assignments (30%) and a written examination (70%)

For students intending to proceed to a dissertation the second assignment will consist of an elaboration of a research topic and research methodology for that dissertation.

For those not intending to proceed to write a dissertation it will consist of a hypothetical exercise of a similar sort.