ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the approach to research methods for public affairs. It provides some of the fundamental context for research methods. Given the term "research" is extraordinarily broad and has a great many uses in both formal and casual conversation, it is perhaps to recognize that the term "policy research" is also a broad, "catch-all" kind of term. The reliance on inductive reasoning characterizes the scientific method. By contrast, the foundations of mathematics relied on deductive reasoning. There are a variety of purposes that one may have in conducting research. The simplest purpose of research is to describe the world. The first thing we need to know in any management capacity is the shape of the world in which we are working. Explanatory research involves the investigation of how changes in one part of the world are related to changes in other parts of the world.
