TY - JOUR
T1 - Topic Modeling the Research-Practice Gap in Public Administration
AU - Walker, Richard M.
AU - Chandra, Yanto
AU - Zhang, Jiasheng
AU - van Witteloostuijn, Arjen
PY - 2019/11
Y1 - 2019/11
N2 - The possible existence of a research-practice gap is the topic of a long-standing debate in the field of public administration. In this Viewpoint essay, the authors examine the agendas of scholars and practitioners using the topic modeling technique of computational social science. Topic modeling a content analysis of 35 topics identified in Public Administration Review and PA Times (3,796 articles) showed that just over 50 percent of topics were common to both groups, indicating shared interests. There were, however, topics that the two groups distinctly focused on. Moreover, scholars and practitioners attached significant differences to the weights allocated to the prominent topics in their writing. Taken together, these findings indicate that topic modeling can shed new light on the research-practice gap in public administration.
AB - The possible existence of a research-practice gap is the topic of a long-standing debate in the field of public administration. In this Viewpoint essay, the authors examine the agendas of scholars and practitioners using the topic modeling technique of computational social science. Topic modeling a content analysis of 35 topics identified in Public Administration Review and PA Times (3,796 articles) showed that just over 50 percent of topics were common to both groups, indicating shared interests. There were, however, topics that the two groups distinctly focused on. Moreover, scholars and practitioners attached significant differences to the weights allocated to the prominent topics in their writing. Taken together, these findings indicate that topic modeling can shed new light on the research-practice gap in public administration.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070252532&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85070252532&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/puar.13095
DO - 10.1111/puar.13095
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85070252532
SN - 0033-3352
VL - 79
SP - 931
EP - 937
JO - Public Administration Review
JF - Public Administration Review
IS - 6
ER -