Sondra Brandler - Böcker

Describing new techniques and novel applications, Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, Second Edition demonstrates the use of tools designed to meet the increased complexity of problems in government and non-profit organizations with ever-more rigorous and systematic research. It presents detailed information on conceptualizing, planning, and implementing research projects involving a wide variety of available methodologies. Providing a reference of systematic research methods, this second edition explains how these techniques aid in understanding traditional issues, and reveals how they might be applied to answer emerging theoretical and practical questions.Following a linear, logical organization, this handbook meets systematic goals and objectives through eight groups of chapters. The first group explains the logic of inquiry and the practical problems of locating existing research. The second group deals with research design and the third examines pitfalls in measurement and data collection. The authors give practical, considered advice in the fourth section to anticipate and solve data management problems. They include numerous illustrations to supplement two separate sections devoted to basic and advanced quantitative analysis. The seventh section covers unique analytical techniques used to gain insight specific to the non-market sector’s knotty problems. The final section addresses the impact of research and describes how to overcome illusive, tricky, and sizeable barriers to influence other researchers, decision makers, foundations, and grant making institutions. With a comprehensive survey of research methods and an examination of their practical and theoretical application in the past, present, and future, Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, Second Edition gives you the tools to make informed decisions.

The new edition of Group Work adds a focus on diversity and the use of self in group work, an area too often neglected in professional training but essential to meeting current competence standards set by the Council on Social Work Education. As in previous editions, students and professors will find thoughtful analyses of complicated value dilemmas and specific techniques for use in a diverse range of settings, including confrontations and situations where humor is appropriate. Complete with more games and exercises, an updated discussion of values and ethics, and an expanded skills section, Group Work also contains excerpts and discussions of case studies that can be applied to students’ own experiences and will serve as a valuable references for years to come.