| The purpose of this study was to retrospectively review the research topics and methodologies of master's theses on Public Administration from 1998 to 2007 in China,examine the status quo of the theses and identify the factors associated with graduate research quality in the field.The contents of a sample of 402 master's theses on Public Administration were analyzed by focusing on the subject areas,types of research questions addressed, research stages,focus,the framework applied,research methods and techniques,and cited references.The data were categorized into two five-year periods,1998-2002 and 2003-2007,to identify changes in the general characteristics of the theses.The results were then compared to previously published reports of public administration research in journal publications.The results are reported as follows.(1) The subject areas were relatively diffuse,and only two topical areas represented more than 10 percent each:administrative function, human resources management.(2) Most theses conducted research at an early stage of development,with more than 89 percent predominantly conceptual research,less than 10 percent relational research,and merely one thesis related to policy evaluation.(3) More than 90 percent theses were guided by some theoretical or conceptual framework,but the theories applied by most theses had little relevance to the research setting.(4) Non-empirical theses dominated the field,accounting for 70 percent; about 24 percent of empirical theses used questionnaires and interviews to collect data respectively.(5) The probability and non-probability sampling methods used by the Relation theses accounted for 67 percent and 22 percent respectively.(6) Most theses did not employ any statistical methods,only 13 percent used descriptive statistics and 10 percent used inferential statistics;theses reported univariate,bivariate and multivariate statistics accounted for 56 percent,4 percent and 32 percent respectively; merely 29 percent of Relation theses tested their hypotheses.(7) No literature review were conducted in 24 percent theses,and citation formats of more than 8 percent theses were not appropriate.The study concluded that due to a lot of duplication of research and failed to develop a focused research question,to integrate theory to practice,and to appropriately apply scientific methods to research issues,along with some research obviously intended to fit the hot political or social hot issues,graduate research as a whole is remarkably diffuse and not sufficiently cumulative,tending to have little impact on the knowledge and theory development of the field of public administration.Increased attention to the structural absence of basic theories of Chinese public administration and the structural imbalance of methodology should be called for in graduate research as well as in public administration research generally. |
