Analytical Techniques for Public Service is a two-quarter long Core program for second-year MPA students. While we will focus each quarter on specific approaches to applied public service research, the intent is that the learning objectives of the program will be achieved across both quarters. The learning objectives include:

 Understand research methodology; understand why we do research in public service;
 Become competent in quantitative and quantitative data collection and analysis;
 Understand analytical techniques in practice (public policy; budgeting and finance; performance measurement and management; evaluation research; etc);
 Be able to situate analytical techniques in management/public policy (the context); understand the importance of these techniques;
 Become facile with the critiques of analytical techniques not to be a cynic but to be a better user/developer of the techniques;
 Develop skills in communicating about data (displaying data; presentations) and writing research reports; and
 Become a savvy and sophisticated consumer of research.

In the Fall quarter, we focus specifically on questions of design and the application of analytical techniques in public service.