On Tuesday, July 9, I discussed the “10 Best Practices to Utilize When Designing an Effective Survey.” To complement this post, I will outline a few simple practices to follow when designing survey questions. These practices are overall meant to increase response rates and ensure validity is maintained. 1. Short as Possible: Questions should beRead… Read more »
“To optimize both your market share and your margins, you must provide customers with consistent, compelling experiences—before, during, and after their purchases—across all channels.” – Oracle, Seven Power Lessons for Customer Experience Leaders With the increasing use of social media, it is more important than ever for organizations, both public and private, to provide theirRead… Read more »
Evaluations are becoming an important part of almost every government activity, especially the administration of grant programs. Many grant program evaluations use surveys to collect information from both benefactors and beneficiaries. For these surveys to be effective, they should follow a few simple best practices outlined below. 1. Brief, Smooth Introduction: This should provide theRead… Read more »
There is a lot of debate around whether or not the government should provide public goods. I believe a public good is one economic area where the government should get involved in private decisions because it represents a market failure. A pure public good is non-rivalrous, where the threat of another person utilizing it isRead… Read more »
We all know a lot about sequestration, especially since we hear about it almost daily on the news or in conversations. However, very few individuals know that much about the PAYGO process, which replaced the sequestration procedures in 1990. Below, I outline (1) the history of PAYGO, (2) when it occurs, and (3) its currentRead… Read more »
Is running the government like a business a good idea? New Public Management (NPM) is a relatively new style of government administration. In short, NPM revolves around running the government like a business. NPM focuses more specifically on seven different traits of running the government like a business: Customer orientation, Efficiency and effectiveness, Competition, possiblyRead… Read more »
Next 10 creates a fun budget tool that allows you to try to reduce the federal budget deficit. The Federal Budget Challenge is a fun learning exercise that converts the user into a policymaker working to reduce the federal budget deficit. The goal is to reduce the amount of annual deficits over the next 10Read… Read more »
Effective government evaluations require the identification and engagement of stakeholders When constructing evaluations for the government, the best way to get people on your side is to identify and engage stakeholders. This is especially helpful when your particular government agency holds a negative view of evaluations. Below, I (1) define the stakeholder concept, (2) discussRead… Read more »
Carl Friedrich and Herman Finer debate the most effective way to ensure accountability of public officials In the Public Administration world, this question is almost always referred to as the Friedrich-Finer debate. In the beginning of the 1940s, Carl Friedrich and Herman Finer debate the most effective way to ensure accountability of public officials. ThisRead… Read more »
Performance Measurement, Program Evaluation, Or Both; plus the importance of data in evaluation. The government is pushing evaluation, especially President Obama and the OMB. However, not many people have a clear understanding of the difference between performance measurement and program evaluation. Below, I outline the differences and discuss the importance of data. Performance Measurement: PerformanceRead… Read more »