Scientific Inquiry in Public Administration

Kuhn emphasizes the importance of objective scientific inquiry for the discovery of new phenomena. He notes that "clearly we need a new vocabulary and concepts for analyzing events" (Kuhn, 1996, p.55). More public information is needed, for example, on why the U.S. was the brunt of terrorism in 2001, why the average person has to little knowledge of Middle Eastern cultures, and how the U.S. dependence on oil exacerbates tension in relations between the U.S. and other countries.

In the wake of the fall of the Twin Towers, public administrators in the U.S. had much to deal with in terms of public fear and the collapse of myths concerning U.S. invulnerability. As ancient Egyptian myths of the night occurring because a serpent swallows the sun, so the U.S. had to face the uncomfortable fact that the U.S. consumer society and control of entertainment media considerably raises the ire of others abroad (Kuhn

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t people to acquiesce to the law, a law that was never intended to become long-term legislation. It is unlikely that an IRS auditor would be interested in the fact that someone evaded taxes because they were self-actualizing for those particular years. A great deal of scientific research goes into presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Focus groups in major cities around the country constantly monitor various segments of the population and their response to specific types of ads. It would be beneficial if such stringent research would be applied to factors in low voter turnout. Why is it that younger age groups do not vote and large groups in general do not vote because they cannot see any differences between he parties? Such research would be very beneficial in determining the true tenor of public thinking and degree of helplessness and despair over public government and its ability to truly help the common individual. Although Maslow's work was done half a century ago, it still is timely in terms of the over-all needs of the whole person. Such research seems not to be a part of current public administration, however. Welfare programs have been drastically cut, so that lower income individuals, pregnant teenagers, a
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Approximate Word count = 1635
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)