ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that at partial fault for the separation between academics and practitioners is the dominant methodology used by both scholars and practitioners —linear regression-based techniques. It introduces substantively weighted least squares and a substantively weighted analytical techniques (SWAT) that has the potential to transform the basic quantitative method of policy analysis. In any SWAT analysis, the first step is to create a model where the policy output is a function of various explanatory inputs, some of which are hopefully controllable by public managers. SWAT is a methodology that can bridge the gap between academics and practitioners. The chapter presents public administration from a tool that explains what is to a tool that can be used to search for what might be. It illustrates the method with an analysis of child support enforcement at the state level. In public administration the different views of research are part of the chasm that separates academics from practitioners in the field.
