Forging Practitioner–Scholar Partnerships

• Author: James L. Perry
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12376
• Published date: 01 May 2015
• Date: 01 May 2015

Forging Practitioner–Scholar Partnerships 343

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 75, Iss. 3, pp. 343–344. © 2015 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12376.

Editorial

Forging Practitioner–Scholar Partnerships

W hen the American Society for Public

Administration (ASPA) and the Public

Administration Review ( PAR ) were founded

during 1939–40, practitioners and scholars stood

together to forge relationships to advance public

administration at the cutting edge of good govern-

ment. This issue of PAR features a package of con-

tributions about the Federal Employee Viewpoint

Survey (FEVS), an annual, large-scale survey of federal

employees, which suggests that the spirit of this jour-

nal ’ s founding is alive and well.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Director Katherine Archuleta ’ s Perspective, “Adding

Value: U.S. Office of Personnel Management as

Research Collaborator,” offers a snapshot of what

OPM is doing to advance evidence-based policy about

federal human resource management. Her message is

clear: OPM is partnering with academic institutions,

think tanks, and others to collaborate on research

and analysis. OPM is not only taking the lead to

illuminate issues most salient to its mission, but it is

also ready to facilitate research about broader issues

of federal and public management. OPM ’ s initiatives

are embedded in the good government goals that

have animated public administration for more than

a century—“improve public policy and improve the

services we deliver to our customers.”

Katherine Archuleta ’ s Perspective is a useful intro-

duction to our Research Synthesis feature in this

issue. “Assessing the Past and Promise of the Federal

Employee Viewpoint Survey for Public Management

Research: A Research Synthesis” by Sergio Fernandez,

Tima Moldogaziev, Zachary Oberfield, and William

Resh looks at the contributions of a growing body

of research based on OPM ’ s current FEVS and its

predecessors. They arrive at two general conclusions.

Based on their systematic review of research based on

the FEVS and its predecessors, they conclude that the

databases created and managed by OPM have been

the foundation for diverse scholarly research during

the last three decades. Fernandez and his coauthors

also propose ways for the FEVS database to be

improved, particularly for rigorous scholarly research.

When read in tandem, Director Archuleta ’ s

Perspective and the Research Synthesis of Fernandez

et al. affirm that scholars and OPM are coproducers

of important and useful research. The commentaries

accompanying the article provide views from other

stakeholders involved with the FEVS. Kimya Lee,

Senior Advisor on Research and Evaluation at OPM;

Robert Goldenkoff, Director of Strategic Issues at

Government Accountability Office (GAO); and

Janelle Callahan, a senior manager at the Partnership

for Public Service, offer views about the article from

key FEVS stakeholders.

As I noted at the beginning of the editorial, PAR ’s

attention to scholar–practitioner (i.e., theory– practice)

relationships dates to the founding of the journal. A

healthy relationship between practitioner and scholar is

essential for quality public administration research. Of

course, that begs the question: what is a healthy practi-

tioner–scholar relationship? I have heard practitioners

complain about the irrelevance or esoteric nature of

public administration research. The complaints are

often as wrong as right. But if practitioners forged

more meaningful partnerships with researchers for

serious study and insights about their domains, then I

suspect that the quality of scholarly research would be

far better. This is the point of view expressed by Orr

and Bennett ( 2012 ), research partners in the United

Kingdom, based on their experiences, which they

shared with PAR ’s readers. Greater receptivity by public

organizations and managers will change scholarship for

the better. The more the public administration com-

munity is receptive to forging relationships, the more

scholarship will be attentive to their needs. This is the

spirit of Director Archuleta ’ s Perspective.

Partnerships can also produce more rigorous research,

which is an often-heard interest of scholars. Scholars

need the laboratories that government, quasi-

government, and nonprofit organizations represent.

James L. Perry

Indiana University, Bloomington