Proposing a framework for research based on the premise that any particular governance arrangement is embedded in a wider social, fiscal, and political context, Laurence E. Lynn Jr., Carolyn J. Heinrich, and Carolyn J. Hill argue that theory-based empirical research, when well conceived and executed, can be a primary source of fundamental, durable knowledge about governance and policy management. Focusing on complex human services such as public assistance, child protection, and public education, they construct an integrative, multilevel "logic of governance," that can help researchers increase the sophistication, power, and relevance of their work.
Laurence E. Lynn, Jr., is Sydney Stein Jr. Professor of Public Management at the University of Chicago.
Carolyn J. Heinrich is an assistant professor of public policy analysis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Together they coedited Governance and Performance: New Perspectives (Georgetown, 2000).
Carolyn J. Hill is assistant professor in the Georgetown Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University.