Review of Public Personnel Administration· 2017Q1
We Know the Yin—But Where Is the Yang? Toward a Balanced Approach on Common Source Bias in Public Administration Scholarship
- 415citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2017year
Short summary
Claims that common source bias (CSB) from survey data excessively inflates correlations in public administration research are exaggerated and based on selective evidence, leading to an unbalanced perspective.
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Key points
- The claim that common source bias (CSB) from surveys excessively inflates correlations in public administration is exaggerated.
- The current narrow focus on CSB leads to an unbalanced perspective on data collection methods.
- The authors argue that claims on CSB are based on selective evidence and project tentative inferences as certainties.
- Measurement validity concerns with archival data are also discussed.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Surveys have long been a dominant instrument for data collection in public administration. However, it has become widely accepted in the last decade that the usage of a self-reported instrument to measure both the independent and dependent variables results in common source bias (CSB). In turn, CSB is argued to inflate correlations between variables, resulting in biased findings. Subsequently, a narrow blinkered approach on the usage of surveys as single data source has emerged. In this article, we argue that this approach has resulted in an unbalanced perspective on CSB. We argue that claims on CSB are exaggerated, draw upon selective evidence, and project what should be tentative inferences as certainty over large domains of inquiry. We also discuss the perceptual nature of some variables and measurement validity concerns in using archival data. In conclusion, we present a flowchart that public administration scholars can use to analyze CSB concerns.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 2017 · DOI ↗
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Field: Public Administration
Public AdministrationSocial Sciences