Original
Experiments in public administration research: contributions, challenges, and the road ahead
Abstract
Experiments are essential for testing theory and evaluating policy interventions as they uniquely enable causal inference. This study provides a primer on experimental and quasi-experimental methods and reviews their use in public administration research by analysing 1,143 articles through bibliometric and regression techniques. It focuses on laboratory, field, survey-based, and quasi/natural experiments. The findings reveal rapid growth in experimental research, particularly survey-based experiments, which now dominate the field. Key theoretical clusters, themes, and references are identified, and statistical analyses investigate the link between experiment type and citation counts. The study concludes with recommendations for advancing experimental research in public administration.
中文
公共行政研究中的实验：贡献、挑战与未来路径
摘要
实验对于检验理论和评估政策干预至关重要，因为它们能够独特地支持因果推断。本研究提供了关于实验与准实验方法的入门介绍，并通过文献计量与回归技术分析1,143篇文章，综述了这些方法在公共行政研究中的使用情况。研究聚焦于实验室实验、实地实验、基于调查的实验以及准实验/自然实验。研究发现，实验研究迅速增长，尤其是基于调查的实验，目前已在领域中占据主导地位。研究识别了关键理论集群、主题和参考文献，并通过统计分析考察了实验类型与引用次数之间的联系。研究最后提出了推进公共行政领域实验研究的建议。
关键词
公共行政、实验方法、因果推断、调查实验、实地实验、准实验、文献计量、引用分析