Methodological consistency for relevant Public Administration Research

Abstract

This article argues that the findings of South African research in Public Administration are often not relevant due to research purposes that imply a combination of predominantly descriptive research, textual data sources and reading as research method. Against the background of the relevancy discourse in Public Administration, this article suggests methodological criteria for determining the relevance of research. Subsequently, scholarly articles in three peer-reviewed journals as well as doctoral theses in the period 2000–2005 were surveyed to assess the consistency between research topic, research purpose, units of observation and research methods. The current study found that thesis research is methodological consistent while articles lack consistency. Scholarly articles seem thus to lack relevancy to the needs of practice.