CHALLENGES OF METHODOLOGY AND VALIDITY IN THE STUDY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Writings on conceptual and methodological issues in the study of social science subjects, Public Administration inclusive, focus attention on comparing this variant of “science”'with the pure science, placing emphasis on the similarities in the methodological apparatuses and procedures. The central aim is to establish the “scienceness”, and poke the social science in the domain of the natural science. Such views may be perfectly plausible, atleast because they rationalise the award of a science degree to a graduate of social science. Standing on similar arguments, this paper latches onto the unexhausted polemics of the “scienceness” of Public Administration, and promises to explore the alternative view that the strong inclination to the appellation science, with reference to Public Administration, is an expression, with little relevance to the subject matter.