One of the key research purposes is to serve the needs of a knowledge-based society. On the other hand, the basis for any knowledge-based society is research itself. In order to have accountable research systems in place, an institutionalisation arrangement is required. Therefore, researchers and research productions, within the South African institutions, are better placed to ensure the understanding, utility and profundity of research deeds. This book review undertakes an analysis of a docu ...

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2021-Jun-24 11:18:26

The project of knowledge production, in academia, goes as far back as the onset of humanity's curiosity about the nature of reality. This is with reference to, both, the physical and social realities that led to the birth of the natural and the human or social sciences. Public administration, as one of the management and social sciences, and just like the sister disciplines, has been dogged by a multiplicity of research ethics challenges for years on end. These challenges range from the m ...

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2021-Jun-24 11:15:32

This article argues that fresh thinking is needed in research methodologies and a special focus needs to be given to oral research methods. The issue is the hegemony of the ‘textʼ in its formal and logical forms ‘as a privileged cannon in scientific thoughtʼ (Turkle & Papert, 1992). Examining this issue could help us to deal with the challenge of knowledge transformation in South Africa. Attention needs to be given to the ‘dialectic of orality and textualityʼ in resea ...

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2021-Jun-24 11:05:47

The study, on which this article reports, applied a conceptual framework to obtain an integrated and deeper understanding of case studies in South African Public Administration. For this purpose, a systematic content analysis and review was done of 23 masters dissertations that were completed between 2005 and 2012. The aim of the analysis was to understand the appropriateness of case studies for contributing to scientific knowledge. Following the application of the conceptual framework in the ...

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2021-Jun-24 11:02:58

The purpose of the research is to evaluate the use of the mixed methods approach in the Department of Public Management and Economics at the University of Technology. The study attempts to answer the extent to which the mixed methods research method is used, the qualification for using the mixed methods approach and the assessment of the research design as a mixed methods approach. A documentary analysis was undertaken of the masters and doctoral dissertations for the period 2010 to 2016 as l ...

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2021-Jun-24 10:53:53

This article is an attempt to provide a cognitive approach to understanding and reporting research strategy, design, procedure and methods, validity and reliability, as well as methodological limitations. We begin with a strong assumption that, compared with a literature review, the research methods chapter should be the easiest chapter to understand and report. However, in reality, most business and public administration/ management research students do not always demonstrate a firm understa ...

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2021-Jun-24 10:51:13

Globalisation has put enormous pressure on research institutions to produce research that is of high quality and that addresses important societal issues. South Africa plays an active role in the global community and her research institutions have to do their part in this globalisation agenda. The research and innovation output of South African research institutions is low when compared to their counterparts in both emerging and developed economies. In recognition of this, the authors present ...

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2021-Jun-24 10:47:54

Public Administration continually struggles to establish both its focus and locus as a discipline and as a terrain of research engagement. South African academics in Public Administration also have to respond to the demands for the decolonisation of curricula and the Africanisation of universities. The practice of research supervision, in this terrain, is not immune to these struggles or the pressure for change; as evolved practices are often embedded in specific conceptions of scholarship an ...

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2021-Jun-24 10:44:02

The ontological and epistemological assumptions of female researchers are often taken for granted, as they are not given enough space to critically examine their beliefs and the core elements of their worldview. The beliefs and life view of female researchers differs from that of male researchers; an element that is often overlooked in the scientific world. Patriarchy still prevails in a number of ways and also in the social sciences. Philosophical underpinnings and life-view in social scienc ...

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2021-Jun-24 10:36:51

Maori anthropologist, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, in her seminal work, "Decolonising Methodologies", argues that research is a dirty word. Hyphenating "research" into "research" is very useful, because it reveals what is involved, what it really means and goes beyond the naive view of "research" as an innocent pursuit of knowledge. It underscores the fact that "researching" involves the activity of undressing other people so as to see them ...

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2021-Jun-24 10:29:45

The Journal of Public Administration is a platform for interrogating epistemological, methodological, axiological, ontological and rhetorical issues and reflections. However, as Wessels (2014) has argued, issues and reflections in public administration still have research methodological implications. This is because, more generally, social scientists consider science ‘not so much what we know as how we know it’ (Babbie, 2001). Therefore, Bless and Higson-Smith (1995) have pointed ...

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2021-Jun-24 10:26:33