Narrative Inquiry and the Search for Connectedness: Practitioners and Academics Developing Public Administration Scholarship |
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| Authors: | Sonia M. Ospina Jennifer Dodge |
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| Affiliation: | An associate professor of public management and policy and codirector of the Research Center for Leadership in Action at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University. Her research interests include organizational and management theory;leadership in public contexts;and public management reform, governance, and collaborative problem solving in public service in the United States and in Latin America. She currently directs the Research and Documentation Component of the Leadership for a Changing World Program. E-mail: .; Research associate at the Research Center for Leadership in Action and a doctoral candidate at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. Her research interests include public and nonprofit management, leadership in public contexts, public participation in policy making in the United States, and environmental and antipoverty policy. E-mail: . |
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| Abstract: | Maintaining a vibrant field of public administration requires ongoing efforts to link the worlds of academic researchers and practitioners. We suggest that research itself, traditionally pursued by academics, is a promising mechanism for making this connection. In particular, researchers and practitioners in public administration can do research together in a way that enhances mutual learning, draws on the strengths of each to create useful knowledge of high quality, appreciates and tolerates of each others' worlds, styles, and contributions. Using research to promote connectedness means rethinking the roles that practitioners and academics play in generating knowledge in the field. In our project, insights from the assumptions and practices of narrative inquiry helped us to identify three research roles for practitioners: as sources of knowledge, as producers of knowledge, and as active consumers who inform the research process. |
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