Ling Zhu, Christopher Witko, Kenneth J Meier, The Public Administration Manifesto II: Matching Methods to Theory and Substance, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 29, Issue 2, April 2019, Pages 287–298, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muy079

I read this article with anticipation and was not let down. The paper is the result of a “methods symposium” “that will appear in this and the next two issues of the
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory”. It links the
articles in this symposium together into a combination of a descriptive
“state of the art” and a normative impetus on forking out a path
forward. “

The article gave me the “big picture” on use of methods in PA-research – and I will surely return to it as a guide showing me where to go for digging further into methodological questions. If you want a up-to-date vitamin-injection concerning methodological challenges in PA research: look no further.

Four conclusions:
1 Self-reflective use of methods is essential.
2 Methodological pluralism is necessary – challenging the division of
qualitative and quantitative approaches
3 Generalizability and replicability are real and vital challenges
4 PA needs a stronger arena for “methodological debates regarding best
practices and sophisticated methods in different substantive research
areas.”

I will hunt down the main articles referred to in this article, and they will appear in this space in the coming months.