Topic Modeling the Research-Practice Gap in Public Administration

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Walker, Richard M.; Chandra, Yanto; Zhang, Jiasheng; van Witteloostuijn, Arjen
• 署名单位: City University of Hong Kong; City University of Hong Kong; City University of Hong Kong; Hong Kong Polytechnic University; City University of Hong Kong; State University System of Florida; Florida State University; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; University of Antwerp
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.13095
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 931-937
• 关键词: policy; science

摘要

The possible existence of a research-practice gap is the topic of a long-standing debate in the field of public administration. In this Viewpoint essay, the authors examine the agendas of scholars and practitioners using the topic modeling technique of computational social science. Topic modeling a content analysis of 35 topics identified in Public Administration Review and PA Times (3,796 articles) showed that just over 50 percent of topics were common to both groups, indicating shared interests. There were, however, topics that the two groups distinctly focused on. Moreover, scholars and practitioners attached significant differences to the weights allocated to the prominent topics in their writing. Taken together, these findings indicate that topic modeling can shed new light on the research-practice gap in public administration.