A PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION ON THE LINK BETWEEN NORMATIVE AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: THE CASE OF PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS

Year 2009, Volume: 27 Issue: 2, 217 - 243, 31.12.2009

Uğur Ömürgönülşen , M. Kemal Öktem

Abstract

Hem bir bilimsel çalışma hem de bir
uygulama alanı olarak kamu yönetimi, kendi asli temellerini oluşturan kamu
hukuku ve siyaset felsefesinin etkisiyle, özü gereği “normatif”tir. Kamu
yönetiminde normatif bir boyuta sahip olmayan bir konu bulmak oldukça zordur.
Bu bağlamda, kamu yönetimi üzerine çalışanlar doğrudan veya dolaylı olarak,
özellikle veya özel bir amaç taşımaksızın normatif sorunlara değinirler. Bu
makalede, esas itibariyle, şu soru tartışılmıştır: “Kamu yönetiminde, ampirik
veriler temelinde, normatif bir sorun bir metodolojik çerçeve içerisinde
sistemli olarak nasıl analiz edilebilir?” İşte bu makalede, söz konusu karmaşık
soru, yazarlar tarafından daha önce başka bir amaçla yapılmış bir araştırmanın
planı ve bulgularının sınırları içerisinde, Türkiye’deki kamu hizmeti etiğine
özel olarak değinilerek ele alınmıştır: Türkiye’de kamu hizmeti etiğinin
normatif boyutu üzerine normatif bir araştırma (temel normlar ve bu normlara
göre şekillenen hukuksal-yönetsel düzenlemeler ve kurumsal mekanizmalar);
Türkiye’de kamu hizmeti etiğinin kültürel boyutu üzerine görgül bir araştırma
(Türk kamu yönetiminin etik olmayan davranışlarla mücadelede kültürel olarak
güçlü ve zayıf yönleri); ve söz konusu normatif ve görgül araştırmalar
arasındaki bağlantı.

  

Keywords

Normatif araştırma, ampirik araştırma, kamu yönetimi, kamu hizmeti etiği, Türkiye

A PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION ON THE LINK BETWEEN NORMATIVE AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: THE CASE OF PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS

Abstract

With the effect of its fundamental
pillars (i.e. public law and political philosophy),
public administration both as a study and a practice is inherently “normative”.
It is highly difficult to find a topic in public administration that does not
have a normative dimension. In this context, all the students of public administration
address normative issues directly or indirectly, deliberately or unintentionally.
The following question has been mainly discussed in this paper: “How can a
normative issue in public administration be analysed systematically on the
basis of empirical data within a methodological framework?” In this paper, this
complicated question has been dealt with a special reference to public service
ethics in Turkey within the boundaries of the design and findings of the
research previously conducted for a different aim by the authors: A normative
research on the normative dimension of public service ethics in Turkey (i.e.
basic norms and legal-administrative regulations and institutional mechanims
based on such norms); an empirical research on the cultural dimension of public
service ethics in Turkey (i.e. the cultural strengths and weaknesses of Turkish
public administration in combating unethical conducts); and the link between
the normative and empirical research.

 

 

Keywords

Normative research, empirical research, public administration, public service ethics, Turkey

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