Growing disenfranchisement with political institutions and policy processes has generated interest in trust in government. For the most part, research has focused on trust in government as a general attitude covering all political institutions. In this book, Scott E. Robinson, James W. Stoutenborough, and Arnold Vedlitz argue that individual agencies develop specific reputations that may contrast with the more general attitudes towards government as a whole. Grounded in a treatment of trust as a relationship between two actors and taking the Environmental Protection Agency as their subject, the authors illustrate that the agency's reputation is explained through general demographic and ideological factors - as well as policy domain factors like environmentalism. The book presents results from two approaches to assessing trust: (1) a traditional attitudinal survey approach, and (2) an experimental approach using the context of hydraulic fracturing. While the traditional attitudinal survey approach provides traditional answers to what drives trust in the EPA, the experimental results reveal that there is little specific trust in the EPA across the United States. Robinson, Stoutenborough, and Vedlitz expertly point the way forward for more reliable assessments of trust, while demonstrating the importance of assessing trust at the agency level. This book represents a much-needed resource for those studying both theory and methods in Public Administration and Public Policy.

The best decisions made by public managers are based not on instinct, but on an informed understanding of what's happening on the ground. Policy may be directed by ideology, but it must also be founded on reality. The challenge of making the right decisions as a public manager is often, therefore, based on the need for rigorous, actionable research. Now in a thoughtfully revised second edition, this textbook shows students of Public Administration exactly how to use both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to give them the best chance to make the right decisions. Uniquely, Eller, Gerber, and Robinson present research methodologies through a series of real-life case studies, with each chapter exploring situations where a public manager can use research to answer specific questions, demonstrating how that research can inform future policy. Taking readers through the key concepts, from research design and sampling to interviews, survey data, and more statistical-based approaches, this new edition provides a complete guide to using research in the public and voluntary sectors. New to this edition: To better orient the student, the second edition is thematically arranged. Five sections, each with a short essay, provide not only previews of the content of each section, but more importantly guide the reader through how the concepts and techniques covered relate to real-world use and application. A new chapter on applied quantitative analyses has been added to offer coverage of several commonly-used and valuable analytic techniques for decision making for policy and management: benefit-cost analysis, risk assessment, and forecasting. The second edition is accompanied by online materials containing suggested course plans and sample syllabi, PowerPoint lecture slides, and student support materials to illustrate the application of key concepts and analytic techniques. Each chapter also includes discussion questions, class exercises, end of chapter review questions, and key vocabulary to provide students with a range of further tools to apply research principles to practical situations.

The best decisions made by public managers are based not on instinct, but on an informed understanding of what's happening on the ground. Policy may be directed by ideology, but it must also be founded on reality. The challenge of making the right decisions as a public manager is often, therefore, based on the need for rigorous, actionable research. Now in a thoughtfully revised second edition, this textbook shows students of Public Administration exactly how to use both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to give them the best chance to make the right decisions. Uniquely, Eller, Gerber, and Robinson present research methodologies through a series of real-life case studies, with each chapter exploring situations where a public manager can use research to answer specific questions, demonstrating how that research can inform future policy. Taking readers through the key concepts, from research design and sampling to interviews, survey data, and more statistical-based approaches, this new edition provides a complete guide to using research in the public and voluntary sectors. New to this edition: To better orient the student, the second edition is thematically arranged. Five sections, each with a short essay, provide not only previews of the content of each section, but more importantly guide the reader through how the concepts and techniques covered relate to real-world use and application. A new chapter on applied quantitative analyses has been added to offer coverage of several commonly-used and valuable analytic techniques for decision making for policy and management: benefit-cost analysis, risk assessment, and forecasting. The second edition is accompanied by online materials containing suggested course plans and sample syllabi, PowerPoint lecture slides, and student support materials to illustrate the application of key concepts and analytic techniques. Each chapter also includes discussion questions, class exercises, end of chapter review questions, and key vocabulary to provide students with a range of further tools to apply research principles to practical situations.

Growing disenfranchisement with political institutions and policy processes has generated interest in trust in government. For the most part, research has focused on trust in government as a general attitude covering all political institutions. In this book, Scott E. Robinson, James W. Stoutenborough, and Arnold Vedlitz argue that individual agencies develop specific reputations that may contrast with the more general attitudes towards government as a whole. Grounded in a treatment of trust as a relationship between two actors and taking the Environmental Protection Agency as their subject, the authors illustrate that the agency's reputation is explained through general demographic and ideological factors - as well as policy domain factors like environmentalism. The book presents results from two approaches to assessing trust: (1) a traditional attitudinal survey approach, and (2) an experimental approach using the context of hydraulic fracturing. While the traditional attitudinal survey approach provides traditional answers to what drives trust in the EPA, the experimental results reveal that there is little specific trust in the EPA across the United States. Robinson, Stoutenborough, and Vedlitz expertly point the way forward for more reliable assessments of trust, while demonstrating the importance of assessing trust at the agency level. This book represents a much-needed resource for those studying both theory and methods in Public Administration and Public Policy.

As the US faced its lowest levels of reported trust in government, the COVID-19 crisis revealed the essential service that various federal agencies provide as sources of information. This Element explores variations in trust across various levels of government and government agencies based on a nationally-representative survey conducted in March of 2020. First, it examines trust in agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, state health departments, and local health care providers. This includes variation across key characteristics including party identification, age, and race. Second, the Element explores the evolution of trust in health-related organizations throughout 2020 as the pandemic continued. The Element concludes with a discussion of the implications for agency-specific assessments of trust and their importance as we address historically low levels of trust in government. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.