Research methods in Australian policy research: a critical analysis

Policy research can play an important role in understanding, and informing public policy making. We explore policy research in Australia through leading Australian policy texts, and find the focus to be on how to understand policy, rather than how to conduct policy research. More attention to the conduct of research could contribute to an enhanced understanding of how knowledge about policy is generated and contribute to policy investigation. We then consider the various methods used in current policy research through an empirical analysis drawing on 120 recent Australian public policy papers. What emerges is a limited focus on methodology, and an unexpected prevalence of qualitative methods compared to comparative, quantitative or mixed methods. We argue that there is considerable scope for Australian policy scholars to pursue research using a range of methods and to become more reflective about methodology, its documentation and development, so that the state of knowledge about Australian public policy can be improved, and the reputation, profile and impact of the profession can be enhanced