ABSTRACT
One distinct issue in public administration research concerns the growth in the availability, size, and complexity of research data in digital format. In an effort to maintain compliance with the 1996 Paperwork Reduction Act, federal agencies have made available to the public a large amount of information in electronic format. For example, Census of Government, a branch of the U.S. Census Bureau, has made available downloadable electronic files on federal, state, and local governments. At the state and local levels, we see similar efforts at making public information available online to better inform citizens about various policy issues. For example, state governments can easily inform interested citizens about the number of computers in each school in the state. Moreover, think tanks and foundations have also joined the bandwagon; they aim to disseminate research data to better inform the public and they want to empower research communities seeking to engage in evidencebased dialogue. The Pew Charitable Trusts is one of many such organizations active in these endeavors. Advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) enable these organizations to create, store, and disseminate information on a large scale. The expansion of increasingly detailed information on public administration will likely continue into the next decade.
