Experimental Research Methodology in the Asia-Pacific : A Review and Research Agenda

Scholars of public administration have recently adopted experimental research designs to provide answers to their research questions. This can be attributed to a desire use a robust causal methodology, the development of greater methodological capacity within the field, and the advent of behavioural public administration. In this article, we examine the extent to which experimental research designs have taken hold in scholarship in the Asia-Pacific region, and outline a research agenda to advance the use of these designs. We review the English language literature published in public administration journals to describe the experimental methodologies adopted, the strengths and weakness of the designs, and the topics studies. Our preliminary search on the term ‘experiment*” in the Web of Science returns 1195 articles using this phrase in the title, abstract or keywords Just over 70% of these articles are published in the USA, England, Netherlands or Denmark. Within the Asia-Pacific region there were 91 articles, accounting for 8% of all studies. Of these 91 articles 22 used experimental research designs. This suggests that experimental methods are not extensively used in much of the Asia-Pacific region. In order to develop capacity for experimental studies in the Asia-Pacific region we conduct a review of the experimental research design adopted in these studies. We conclude by identifying best practices in experimental methods and identify research topics that will advance knowledge of the practice of public administration in the Asia-Pacific region.