Action-Research: Experimental Social Administration?
Abstract
In braver, brighter days before the white heat of technology had finally cooled, and CDP was as yet but a glint in some undersecretary’s eye, grew up the idea of ‘experimental social administration’. The aim of linking social science and government closely in policy development had been long established; but setting up small-scale experimental projects where action and research combine to promote and test new policy was very much a product of the 1960s - with their hard-to-recapture optimism over the power and effectiveness of government action against poverty.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Social Science and Policy Research
Public Policy and Administration Research
Social Policy and Reform Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 188–199
- Publication date
- 30 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter