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 Research Methods
and Statistics for
Public and Nonprofit
Administrators
 The authors wish to dedicate this book to current and future
professionals in the field of public service.
Masami Nishishiba wishes to dedicate this book to her loving parents, Tetsuo and
Akiko Kawai, and to the memory of her late brother, Takeshi Kawai.
Mariah Kraner wishes to dedicate this book to her supportive husband, Josh,
and loving children, Kennedy and Logan.
 Research Methods
and Statistics for
Public and Nonprofit
Administrators
A Practical Guide

Masami Nishishiba
Matthew Jones
Mariah Kraner
Portland State University
FOR INFORMATION: Copyright  2014 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

SAGE Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
2455 Teller Road or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
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United Kingdom Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. Nishishiba, Masami.

B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area
Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044
India
Research methods and statistics for public and nonprofit
administrators : a practical guide / Masami Nishishiba,
Matthew Jones, Mariah Kraner.

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. pages cm

3 Church Street Includes bibliographical references and index.
#10-04 Samsung Hub
ISBN 978-1-4522-0352-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Singapore 049483
ISBN 978-1-4833-0141-9 (web pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4833-2146-2 (epub)

1. Public administration—Research Methodology.

2. Nonprofit organizations—Management. I. Title.

JF1338.A2N57 2013
001.4′2024658—dc23
Acquisitions Editor: Patricia Quinlin
Associate Editor: Maggie Stanley This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Assistant Editor: Megan Koraly
Editorial Assistant: Katie Guarino
Production Editor: Brittany Bauhaus
Copy Editor: Brenda White
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.
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Indexer: Kathy Paparchontis
Cover Designer: Anupama Krishnan
Marketing Manager: Liz Thornton 13 14 15 16 17 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 ❖
Brief Contents

Preface xvi
Acknowledgments xx

SECTION I. RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION 1

Chapter 1  
When a Practitioner Becomes a Researcher 2
Chapter 2  Research Alignment 13
Chapter 3  Identifying the Focus of the Research:
Research Objective and Research Question 26
Chapter 4  Research Design 47
Chapter 5  Sample Selection 72
Chapter 6  Data Collection 87

SECTION II. DATA ANALYSIS 115

Chapter 7  Quantitative Data Preparation and

Descriptive Statistics 116
Chapter 8  Hypothesis Testing and Statistical
Significance: Logic of Inferential Statistics 151
Chapter 9  Comparing Means Between Two Groups 171
Chapter 10 
Comparing Means of More Than Two
Groups: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 193
Chapter 11 Bivariate Correlation 222
Chapter 12 Chi-Square Analysis 239
Chapter 13 Regression Analysis 253
Chapter 14 Qualitative Data Analysis 281
SECTION III. SUMMING UP: PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER 297

Chapter 15 Writing Reports 298

Chapter 16 
Using Research Methods for Continuous
Improvement: Program Evaluation and
Performance Measurement 313

Appendix A: Additional SPSS and Excel Instructions 333

Appendix B: Emily’s Survey Form 339
Glossary 342
Index 356
About the Authors 366
 ❖
Contents

Preface xvi
Acknowledgments xx

SECTION I. RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION 1

Chapter 1 When a Practitioner Becomes a Researcher 2

Case Descriptions of Practitioners Becoming Researchers 3
Emily: HR Director at a City 3
Jim: Deputy Fire Chief 4
Mary: Manager at a Nonprofit Organization 6
Purpose of This Book 6
Research Skills as Leadership Skills 8
1. Research skills help you develop problem solving, solution
construction, and social judgment skills. 8
2. Research skills help you acquire resources. 8
3. Research skills help you allocate resources more effectively. 9
4. Research skills help you advocate. 10
5. Research skills help you become a better decision maker. 10
6. Research skills support ethical leadership. 10
Chapter Summary 11
Review and Discussion Questions 11
Key Terms 12

Chapter 2 Research Alignment 13

When the Research Process is Not Aligned 14
Emily’s Case 14
Research Flow and Components 18
Overall Flow of Research 18
Step 1. Identifying the Focus of the Research (Research Objective) 18
Step 2. Identifying the Specific Questions You Are
Trying to Answer (Research Question) 20
Step 3. Identify How You Collect the Information
You Need (Research Design) 20
 Step 4. Identify From Whom or What You Collect the
Information (Sample Selection) 21
Step 5. Collect the Data (Data Collection) 21
Step 6. Analyze the Data (Data Analysis) 22
Step 7. Interpret and Report the Results (Reporting) 23
Chapter Summary 24
Review and Discussion Questions 25
Key Terms 25

Chapter 3 Identifying the Focus of the Research:

Research Objective and Research Question 26
Identifying the Focus of the Research 27
Jim’s Case 27
Mary’s Case 29
Research Objectives 30
Jim’s Case 31
Identifying Research Objectives 32
Types of Research 32
Theory Building Approaches: Inductive Versus Deductive 33
Types of Data Analysis 35
Mary’s Case 36
Research Questions 37
Jim’s Case 37
Focusing Your Research Questions 38
Identifying Types of Research Questions 40
Literature Review 42
Chapter Summary 44
Review and Discussion Questions 44
Key Terms 46

Chapter 4 Research Design 47

Identifying Research Design 48
Emily’s Case 48
Mary’s Case 49
Research Design: A Game Plan 49
Types of Research Design 50
Conditions for Cause and Effect 51
Temporal Precedence 52
Covariation of Cause and Effect 52
No Plausible Alternative Explanation 53
Key Elements of Experimental Research Design 56
Variations of Quasi-Experimental Research Design 59
Jim’s Case 59
 Making a Causal Argument Based on the
Experimental Design 63
Jim’s Case (Continues) 63
Other Variations of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Design 66
Ethical Considerations in Experimental and
Quasi-Experimental Design 69
Chapter Summary 69
Review and Discussion Questions 70
Key Terms 71

Chapter 5 Sample Selection 72

Identifying Samples 73
Emily’s Case 73
Mary’s Case 74
Sample Selection 74
Identify an Appropriate Sampling Frame 75
Identify an Appropriate Sample Size 77
Identify an Appropriate Sampling Technique 78
Probability Sampling 79
Simple Random Sampling 79
Systematic Random Sampling 79
Stratified Random Sampling 80
Cluster Sampling 81
Non-Probability Sampling 82
Convenience Sampling 83
Purposive Sampling 84
Emily’s Case 84
Chapter Summary 85
Review and Discussion Questions 85
Key Terms 86

Chapter 6 Data Collection 87

Identifying Data Collection Methods 88
Emily’s Case 88
Jim’s Case 90
Mary’s Case 90
Types of Data 91
Survey 91
Advantages of Surveys 92
Survey Errors 92
Writing Survey Questions 94
Types of Questions 94
Key Considerations in Wording Survey Questions 94
 Key Considerations for Response Options 95
Operationalizing the Concept 96
Mode of Survey Administration 98
Emily’s Case 99
Interview 101
Interview Guide: Instrument for Qualitative Data Collection 101
Focus Group 102
Other Qualitative Data Collection Methods 106
Mary’s Case 107
Using Secondary Data 109
Jim’s Case 109
Ethical Considerations in Data Collection 110
Chapter Summary 112
Review and Discussion Questions 112
Key Terms 113

SECTION II. DATA ANALYSIS 115

Chapter 7 Quantitative Data Preparation and Descriptive Statistics 116

Preparing for Analysis and Using Descriptive Statistics 118
Emily’s Case 118
Jim’s Case 119
Starting Data Analysis 120
Preparing Data for Analysis 121
Levels of Measurement 122
Descriptive Statistics: Overview 126
Measures of Central Tendency 126
Mean 127
Median 128
Mode 130
Which Measure of Central Tendency to Use? 131
Measures of Variability 131
Range 133
Variance 134
Standard Deviation 136
Measures of the Shape of a Distribution 137
Chapter Summary 144
Review and Discussion Questions 144
Statistics Exercise 145
1. Emily’s Data 145
2. Jim’s Data 145
Step-by-Step Instructions for Running Descriptive
Statistics Using SPSS 145
 Step-by-Step Instructions for Running Descriptive
Statistics Using Excel 147
Key Terms 149

Chapter 8 Hypothesis Testing and Statistical

Significance: Logic of Inferential Statistics 151
Using Inferential Statistics 152
Emily’s Case 152
Jim’s Case 153
What Are Inferential Statistics? 154
Developing Hypotheses 155
Types of Variables in the Hypothesized Relationship 155
Emily’s Case 156
Hypothesis Testing 158
Statistical Significance 160
Level of Significance 160
Probability, Normal Distribution, and Sampling
Distribution of the Mean 162
Normal Distribution 162
Sampling Distribution of the Mean 162
Summary of Hypothesis Testing Steps 166
Errors and Risks in Hypothesis Testing 166
Statistical Significance Versus Practical Significance 168
Chapter Summary 169
Review and Discussion Questions 169
Key Terms 170

Chapter 9 Comparing Means Between Two Groups 171

Comparing Two Groups 173
Emily’s Case 173
Jim’s Case 174
Types of Research Questions T-Tests Can Answer 174
Why Conduct T-Tests? 175
Background Story of the T-Test 175
One-Sample T-Test 175
Running One-Sample T-Test Using Software Programs 176
Independent Samples T-Test 178
Equality of Variance 179
Jim’s Case 179
Running Independent Samples T-Test Using SPSS 180
Independent Samples T-Test Using Excel 184
Jim’s Case 185
 Paired Samples T-Test 186
Running Paired Samples T-Test Using SPSS 187
Running Paired Samples T-Test Using Excel 189
Chapter Summary 190
Review and Discussion Questions 191
Exercises 191
Key Terms 192

Chapter 10 Comparing Means of More Than Two Groups:

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 193
Comparing More Than Two Groups 195
Emily’s Case 195
Jim’s Case 196
Introduction to ANOVA 196
Two Types of ANOVA 196
Why Conduct ANOVA? 197
Understanding F-Statistic 197
What ANOVA Tells Us 199
Post Hoc Tests 200
Effect Size: Eta Squared 201
One-Way ANOVA 201
Note on Sample Sizes for the One-Way ANOVA 202
Running One-Way ANOVA Using SPSS 203
Running One-Way ANOVA Using Excel 209
Side Note: Omnibus Test Is Significant but Post Hoc
Test Is Not Significant 209
Repeated Measures ANOVA 210
Running Repeated Measures ANOVA Using SPSS 211
Running Repeated Measures ANOVA Using Excel 215
Other Types of ANOVA 217
Factorial ANOVA 217
Mixed Design ANOVA 217
Chapter Summary 218
Review and Discussion Questions and Exercises 219
Key Terms 220

Chapter 11 Bivariate Correlation 222

Examining Relationships 223
Emily’s Case 223
Mary’s Case 224
Pearson Product Moment Correlation 224
Direction of the Relationship 225
Strength of the Relationship 226
 Visual Presentation of a Correlation: The Scatterplot 226
Note on Linear Versus Curvilinear Relationship 229
Testing Hypothesis and Statistical Significance for Correlation 230
Running Correlation Using Software Programs 231
Running Pearson Product Moment Correlation Using SPSS 231
Running Correlation Using Excel 235
Correlation Does Not Imply Causality 236
Chapter Summary 237
Review and Discussion Questions and Exercises 237
Key Terms 238

Chapter 12 Chi-Square Analysis 239

Examining Relationships Between Two Categorical Variables 240
Emily’s Case 240
Mary’s Case 241
Chi-Square Analysis 242
Calculating Chi-Square Statistics and Testing Statistical Significance 243
Note on Samples Size for Chi-Square Analysis 245
Running Chi-Square Analysis Using Software Programs 245
Running Chi-Square Using SPSS 245
Running Chi-Square Using Excel 249
Chapter Summary 251
Review and Discussion Questions and Exercises 252
Key Terms 252

Chapter 13 Regression Analysis 253

Predicting Relationships 255
Emily’s Case 255
Mary’s Case 256
Linear Regression Analysis 257
Regression Equation and Regression Line: Basis for Prediction 258
Assessing the Prediction: Coefficient of Determination (R2) 262
Assessing Individual Predictors: Regression Coefficient (b) 265
Running Bivariate Regression Using Software Programs 265
Running Bivariate Regression Using SPSS 265
Running Bivariate Regression Using Excel 269
Multiple Regression 270
Multicollinearity 271
Using Dummy Variables in the Multiple Regression 271
Running Multiple Regression Using Software Programs 273
Running Multiple Regression Using SPSS 273
Running Multiple Regression Using Excel 277
Mary’s Case 278
 Brief Comment on Other Types of Regression Analyses 278
Chapter Summary 279
Review and Discussion Questions and Exercises 279
Key Terms 280

Chapter 14 Qualitative Data Analysis 281

Collecting and Analyzing Qualitative Data 282
Emily’s Case 282
Mary’s Case 283
Qualitative Versus Quantitative Data Analysis 284
Approaches to Qualitative Data Collection 285
Preparing Data for Qualitative Analysis 285
Thematic Analysis of the Qualitative Data 286
Mary’s Case 287
Brief Comment on the Qualitative Data Analysis Software 289
Analyzing Qualitative Data by Converting Them Into Numbers 291
Mary’s Case 291
Issues in Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis 292
Selection of Study Participants 292
Interviewer Effect 293
Subjective Nature of the Analysis 294
Chapter Summary 294
Review and Discussion Questions and Exercises 295
Key Terms 296

SECTION III. SUMMING UP: PUTTING

THE PIECES TOGETHER 297

Chapter 15 Writing Reports 298

Data Collected and Analyzed—Then What? 299
Emily’s Case 299
Jim’s Case 300
Mary’s Case 301
Key Issues When Writing Reports 302
Understanding Your Audience 302
Academic Style Reporting Versus Nonacademic Style Reporting 302
Key Components of the Report 304
Abstract or Executive Summary 304
Table of Contents 305
Introduction 305
Review of the Literature or Project Background 305
Methods 305
Results 307
 Discussions and Conclusions or Recommendations 308
References 308
Notes 308
Appendix 309
Alternative Forms of Reporting 309
Chapter Summary 310
Review and Discussion Questions and Exercises 310
Key Terms 311

Chapter 16 Using Research Methods for Continuous

Improvement: Program Evaluation and
Performance Measurement 313
Using Research in Program Evaluation and Performance
Measurement 314
Emily’s Case 314
Jim’s Case 315
Mary’s Case 316
Program Evaluation and Performance
Measurement as Research 316
Difference Between Program Evaluation and
Performance Measurement 317
Ty and Mary at the Conference 318
Key Issues in Program Evaluation 319
Types of Evaluation 319
Key Issues in Performance Measurement 322
Types of Performance Measurement 323
Who Conducts Program Evaluation and Performance
Measurement? 323
Ethical Considerations in Program Evaluation and
Performance Measurement 324
Practitioners Becoming Researchers: Making Sense of It All 325
Round Table Discussion at the Conference 325
Chapter Summary 330
Review and Discussion Questions 330
Key Terms 332

Appendix A: Additional SPSS and Excel Instructions 333

Appendix B: Emily’s Survey Form 339
Glossary 342
Index 356
About the Authors 366
 ❖
Preface

Why Another Research Methods and Statistics Book?

We wrote this textbook on research methods and statistics for public and nonprofit
administrators to emphasize two aspects of research that we believe do not receive
sufficient attention in existing textbooks: the direct relevance of research methods and
statistics to practical issues in everyday work situations for public and nonprofit
administrators, and the importance of aligning research components in a logical man-
ner to produce meaningful results. Students and professionals in public and nonprofit
administration need research skills to become effective decision makers. Managers
need to understand how to conduct and evaluate research to become effective leaders.

Relevance
In our research methods and statistics classes, we found ourselves spending a lot of
time explaining to students why knowledge of research methods and statistics is
important to become effective managers. Many were skeptical. Yet, year after year, we
hear from students who got a job or an internship opportunity, coming back to tell us,
“I’m glad I kept the statistics book. It saved my life,” or “I use what I learned in your
class every day in managing my unit.” Our main purpose in writing this book was to
make this point clear to other students and to practitioners who may find themselves
needing help with their research design, statistics skills, and knowledge to solve practi-
cal issues at work. In our experience, public and nonprofit administrators, managers,
analysts, coordinators, and others are routinely using what they learned in their
research methods and statistics classes to help make decisions, shape policies, evaluate
programs, and manage resources. We think you will, too, and we want you to be pre-
pared for it. We provide practical examples to illustrate ways to use research methods
and statistics in different public and nonprofit work settings.

Alignment
Over the years, we have observed that even after completing research design and meth-
ods courses, students and practitioners often struggle with framing the basic elements
to develop and implement a successful research project. A good understanding of

xvi
 Preface ❖ xvii

specific components of a research project, such as experimental design or survey data

collection or using a chi-square statistical test with categorical data, does not mean all
the components fit together in a logical manner to provide convincing results for a
specific research objective. In this book, we want to help students and practitioners
develop viable research projects that work as intended. Partly, this means aligning the
components of the research process. We cover simple steps to help with this alignment
in the first few chapters. In later chapters, we describe research designs, data collection
methods, and types of data, followed by appropriate use of different statistical tests
with quantitative data; and how to code, analyze, and report qualitative data. We hope
this step-by-step discussion, from concept to reporting, will help guide you as a
researcher while developing your own projects. This is especially important for
students and practitioners in public and nonprofit administration who aspire to attain
higher-level managerial positions that may involve overseeing research activities.
Understanding the alignment of research components is also important for graduate
students who need to develop and implement a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation.

Who Is This Book For?

Research Methods and Statistics for Public and Nonprofit Administrators: A Practical
Guide is intended for upper-division and graduate-level research design and research
methods courses, particularly for students in the fields of public affairs, public admin-
istration, nonprofit management, and public policy. Students in other social science
disciplines, as well as business and executive courses, should also find the textbook
useful as an accessible guide to research methods and statistics. Graduate students can
use this book as a supplemental guide to clarify the research process.
We also wrote this book for practitioners working in the public and nonprofit
sectors. This book can be used as a textbook for professional development courses for
researchers and analysts. Practitioners who engage in research projects may want to
keep this book as a resource guide.

What Are the Key Features of This Book?

Case Stories
At the beginning of this book, the reader is introduced to three main characters: Jim,
the fire chief; Emily, the HR director; and Mary, the program manager of a nonprofit
organization. Throughout the book, the case stories show how each of the characters
approaches the research process to address different organizational challenges. The
case stories illustrate how research is relevant to specific public and nonprofit prac-
tices. The case stories also help the reader to understand how different research com-
ponents should be aligned throughout the whole research process. The case stories
are accompanied by cartoon illustrations to help the reader identify and follow the
different cases.
xviii ❖ RESEARCH METHODS AND STATISTICS FOR PUBLIC AND NONPROFIT ADMINISTRATORS

Address Both Research Design and Data Analysis in One Book

This book discusses both research design and data analysis in one book to highlight
the connection among research questions, research design, and data analyses. Instead
of focusing on research design or statistical analysis independently, we make the con-
nections among the components explicit by discussing the whole research process.

Focus on Application
This book is a practical guide to research methods for students and practitioners in
public and nonprofit administration and policy. We want students to recognize the
importance and utility of research in their professional lives and to master research
methods that are immediately applicable in professional settings. Consequently, we
keep mathematical explanations of statistical concepts to a minimum. We introduce
mathematical formulas only when we think it will help the reader understand the logic
of the statistical test under discussion. We hope this approach will help those who have
statistics phobia to develop an initial understanding of the use of the statistics in
research and help relieve the phobia down the line.

Include Step-by-Step Instructions for SPSS

and Excel for Statistical Analysis
Most of the statistical analysis in the field of public and nonprofit administration is
conducted using statistical analysis software. While there are a variety of software pro-
grams available to students and practitioners, SPSS and Excel are among the most
popular and widely used. In this book, we provide visual, step-by-step instructions for
the analyses introduced in the book, using both SPSS and Excel. By following the
instructions, the readers can immediately practice how to use these software programs
and apply the processes in their own research projects.

Review and Discussion Questions and Exercises

Each chapter concludes with a list of review and discussion questions. These questions
can be used for in-class group discussions or for individual written assignments. In
Part II, where data analysis and statistical tests are introduced, the review and discus-
sion questions include exercises that use web-based data sets. Students can practice
each statistical analysis with these data sets, using SPSS and Excel. The exercises are
drawn from questions that emerge in the case examples included in each chapter,
which offer a practical context to engage in the research process. We hope students will
enjoy this manner of presentation, with fictional characters facing real issues.

Ancillaries

Instructor Teaching Site

Password-protected instructor resources are available at www.sagepub.com/
nishishiba1e to help instructors plan and teach their courses. These resources have
 Preface ❖ xix

been designed to help instructors make the classes as practical an interesting as pos-
sible for students.
The instructor resources include the following:

• A Microsoft® Word® test bank, is available containing multiple choice, true/

false, and essay questions for each chapter. The test bank provides you with a
diverse range of pre-written options as well as the opportunity for editing any
question and/or inserting your own personalized questions to effectively assess
students’ progress and understanding.
• A Respondus electronic test bank, is available and can be used on PCs. The test
bank contains multiple choice, true/false, and essay questions for each chapter
and provides you with a diverse range of pre-written options as well as the
opportunity for editing any question and/or inserting your own personalized
questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding. Respondus
is also compatible with many popular learning management systems so you can
easily get your test questions into your online course.
• Editable, chapter-specific Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides offer you complete
flexibility in easily creating a multimedia presentation for your course.
Highlight essential content, features, and artwork from the book.
• Suggested classroom exercises are designed to promote students’ in-depth
engagement with course material.

Student Study Site

An open-access student study site can be found at www.sagepub.com/nishishiba1e.
The student study resources include the following:

• Data sets are posted to the web site for students to use as they apply their
knowledge through hands on activities in the book.
• Sample result write-ups are provided for several chapters in order to give stu-
dent's valuable examples of how to write your research findings.
 ❖
Acknowledgments

W e are grateful to many people who helped us make this book possible. We
thank all the students at Portland State University who took our Analytic
Methods classes and gave us valuable feedback. We thank our teachers and mentors
who taught as all we know about research methods and statistics. In particular, we
appreciate the instruction of Dr. David Morgan, Dr. Jason Newsom, Dr. Margaret Neal,
Dr. Brian Stipak, Dr. David Ritchie, Dr. Susan Poulsen, and Dr. Peter Ehrenhaus.
Special thanks go to the following people for their help and support.
Jillian Girard and Caroline Zavitkovski helped us review and edit the manuscript.
They also went through the manuscript in detail and helped us develop the glossary.
Kyoko Hosoe did the illustrations of Emily, Jim, and Mary and helped us draw the bell
curves used in the figures. Dr. Terry Hammond provided extensive editing support
and helped us incorporate reviewers’ comments and streamline the manuscript.
We also appreciate Phil Keisling, director of the Center for Public Service, and Sara
Saltzberg, assistant director of the Center for Public Service, who gave the authors spe-
cial consideration and relieved us from other duties so we could concentrate on writing
this book.
The editorial staff at Sage Publications, in particular Maggie Stanley, Patricia
Quinlin, and Katie Guarino gave us valuable guidance and patience throughout the
project. We are also grateful for production support by Megan Koraly and the initial
contribution of Lisa Cuevas Shaw, who helped us develop the idea for this book.
Many reviewers commissioned by Sage Publications gave us valuable insights and
feedback. This book benefited from their suggestions. We want to thank the thoughtful
contributions of the following reviewers to the chapter drafts:

Matthew Cahn, California State University Northridge

David W. Chapman, Old Dominion
Natasha V. Christie, University of North Florida
A. Victor Ferreros, School of Public Policy and Administration, Walden University
Sheldon Gen, San Francisco State University
John D. Gerlach, II, Western Carolina University
Marcia Godwin, University of La Verne

xx
 Acknowledgments ❖ xxi

James S. Guseh, North Carolina Central University

Peter Fuseini Haruna, Texas A&M International University
Dan Krejci, Jacksonville State University
Edward Kwon, Northern Kentucky University
Aroon Manoharan, Kent State University
Charles Menifield, University of Missouri, Columbia
James A. Newman, Western Carolina University
Lee W. Payne, Stephen F. Austin State University
Holly Raffle, Ohio University
Manabu Saeki, Jacksonville State University
Robert Mark Silverman, University at Buffalo
Feng Sun, Troy University
William Wallis, California State University, Northridge
Matthew Witt, University of La Verne
SECTION I:
❖
Research Design
and Data
Collection
 1 ❖
When a
Practitioner
Becomes a
Researcher

Learning Objectives 3
Case Descriptions of Practitioners Becoming Researchers 3
Emily: HR Director at a City 3
Jim: Deputy Fire Chief 4
Mary: Manager at a Nonprofit Organization 6
Purpose of This Book 6
Research Skills as Leadership Skills 8
1. Research skills help you develop problem solving, solution
construction, and social judgment skills. 8
2. Research skills help you acquire resources. 8
3. Research skills help you allocate resources more effectively. 9
4. Research skills help you advocate. 10
5. Research skills help you become a better decision maker. 10
6. Research skills support ethical leadership. 10
Chapter Summary 11
Review and Discussion Questions 11
Key Terms 12

2
 Chapter 1 When a Practitioner Becomes a Researcher ❖ 3

Learning Objectives

In this chapter you will

1. Get acquainted with the three main characters in the case descriptions used
throughout the book
2. Become familiar with situations where research is an important component of
practice in the public and nonprofit sectors
3. Learn how research skills are an important component of leadership for public
and nonprofit administrators

Case Descriptions of Practitioners Becoming Researchers

Research is not just for professors in academia or scientists at a lab. Research is part
of every practitioner’s job when important decisions are being made. Practitioners
often face challenges that require research to identify the nature of problems and pos-
sible solutions.
Students with career goals to work in the public or nonprofit sectors should be
prepared to conduct, manage, and evaluate research. Throughout this book, the cases
of Emily, Jim, and Mary will illustrate instances when research is an important part of
routine work activities in public and nonprofit organizations. Each case represents a
different type of organization, roles within the organization, and goals that introduce
research into everyday practice.

Emily: HR Director at a City

Emily is the human resource (HR) director of the city of Westlawn,
with a population of 35,000. The city has approximately 500
full-time employees. Emily reports directly to the city manager
and oversees the human resources of the city departments,
including the Library, Parks and Recreation, Street, Water and
Sewer, Public Works, Community Development, Transit Authority,
Fire, Police, Finance, IT, HR, City Manager’s Office, and the City
Attorney’s Office.
Emily joined the city three years ago as the HR director.
Previously, she worked five years as a training manager at a neigh-
boring county. She was also active in promoting diversity and cultural awareness at the
county. At the city of Westlawn, Emily noticed the employees seemed to be less sensitive
about cultural issues. Comments and jokes sometimes referenced women or racial or sex-
ual minorities in ways that came across as insensitive and inappropriate. In the three years
she had worked at the city, Emily noticed the demographic composition of the community
4 ❖ SECTION I RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

had changed dramatically with a growing Hispanic population, drawn partly by the
booming farming industry in the area. Emily was concerned that the lack of cultural sen-
sitivity among the city employees could affect community and workplace relations as the
local population grew more diverse.
About six months ago, an employee made a complaint against a supervisor for making
angry, ethnic slurs. Emily was required to investigate. The results indicated that the supervi-
sor’s comments and behavior were discriminatory. This incident brought the issues of diver-
sity and cultural competence Emily had been pondering into focus. After three years on the
job, she felt she had gained enough trust from the employees as HR director to take an
active position. The city manager, Bob, gave her a go-ahead on a proposal to conduct
diversity training classes for the city’s employees.
To get started, Emily applied for a grant from the Community Foundation. In her pro-
posal, she specified four objectives:

• Increase awareness and understanding among city employees about diversity issues
• Develop cultural competence among city employees
• Decrease tension within work units due to poor communication and lack of
knowledge about diversity and cultural issues
• Provide tools for supervisors and managers to assess potential diversity issues in the
workplace and a system for increasing communication and promoting tolerance

She also stated that she would (1) conduct an assessment of the organizational culture
and (2) implement training and events to promote diversity and enhance cultural compe-
tence among the employees.
To Emily’s delight, the Community Foundation granted her the full amount she
requested. The award letter noted that Emily and her project team should meet with the
foundation’s program officer to finalize the project design. The letter also stated that the
foundation required all grantees to conduct an evaluation of the funded program and
include a statement of impact in the final report. Reading the letter from the Community
Foundation, Emily thought, “Hmm—it sounds like I will need to collect data to show the
training makes an impact. It says I need to do a ‘baseline assessment’ and report the result
of my ‘program evaluation.’ I’ll have to think how to do that.”

Jim: Deputy Fire Chief

Jim is the deputy fire chief for the city of Rockwood Fire Department, which serves
a population of 250,000. The department has eight fire stations and employs
500 uniform and nonuniform personnel. The city is proud of the Fire Department,
which has been in existence for 125 years and is consistently one of the top-rated
units in the city administration. In a recent citizen survey of service efforts and
accomplishments across all city departments, the Fire Department received the
highest grade.
Last year, a new fire chief was hired from outside the department, and Jim
was promoted to his new role as deputy chief. Chief Chen, the new chief,
 Chapter 1 When a Practitioner Becomes a Researcher ❖ 5

came from a special district that served a population of 175,000. He was well known
and respected in the fire service as an innovative thinker and practitioner. The city
manager’s decision to hire the new chief was partly based on Chief Chen’s accom-
plishment in transforming the fire district into a data-driven, lean organization.
Although the Rockwood Fire Department received the highest citizen satisfaction rat-
ings, the city manager believed there was room for improvement. He forecasted dwin-
dling budgets for the department and wanted the department to operate more
efficiently.
The new chief placed Jim in charge of planning and operations for the department. The
department had collected various data for several years, but no one had analyzed it in any
systematic manner. Jim was given the task to analyze the performance of the organization
and evaluate some of its programs. Chief Chen and the city manager agreed that this
approach would help determine what did and did not work and what factors might con-
tribute to better outcomes. In addition, Chief Chen wanted to seek accreditation from an
international standardization body. Accreditation would serve as a “stamp of approval”
within the fire service. To obtain accreditation, the organization must have a comprehensive
performance analysis plan and evaluation capacity.
Jim recognized the importance of his new management tasks but was nervous, because
he did not have experience with research or data analysis. He had heard about other fire
departments pushing a “data-driven approach,” but he was not sure what that meant
exactly. The department did not have anyone dedicated to research or data analysis, so Jim
was on his own. Chief Chen asked Jim to look into two things: first, Jim was to analyze the
department’s response time to calls for service, compare the different stations to each other
and to national standards, and observe any changes in performance during the past few
years. Response time is a common performance measure for fire service and is required
information for accreditation. Response time is also important in citizen perception and
outcomes. This focus made sense, and Jim thought he might be able to find examples to
help him do the analysis.
The second task appeared more challenging. Chief Chen asked Jim to explore the
effectiveness of an “alternative service model.” He was hoping to deploy fewer, focused
resources to each service call. In Rockwood, a fire engine with four firefighters was dis-
patched to every service call. Emergency medical calls made up 92% of all calls, of
which 85% were for minor incidents such as sprained ankles. Chief Chen thought send-
ing out a fire engine with four firefighters to all calls was costly and ineffective, especially
when a second call at the same time required another engine to be dispatched from a
farther distance away. Furthermore, for the remaining 15% of medical emergency calls
that were more serious, the four firefighters with the engine were sometimes unable to
provide sufficient medical aid, because there were not enough firefighters at Rockwood
who qualified as paramedics. This situation had implications for mortality rates associ-
ated with the emergency calls, which is frequently used as a performance measure for the
fire service. Chief Chen wanted to explore alternative service models, perhaps dispatching
a car with one trained nurse and one firefighter or just a physician’s assistant to first
evaluate what was needed. He hoped such a change could be more efficient and more
effective at saving lives.
6 ❖ SECTION I RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

After a long meeting with Chief Chen, Jim said to himself, “Both of these issues will
require some research. Can I do it? Should I hire a consultant? Do we have a budget
for it?”

Mary: Manager at a Nonprofit Organization

Mary is a program manager at Health First, a large urban nonprofit organization.
The organization has 200 paid employees and 60 volunteer positions, primarily
operating from grant funds and private donations. As with most nonprofit organiza-
tions, resources are tight. Much of the work depends on volunteers, who generally
have little incentive to stay or show loyalty to the organization. The organization
invests valuable resources in training and managing the volunteers. Mary is respon-
sible for recruiting and retaining volunteer workers who conduct several canvassing
activities, including direct mailings and organization-sponsored events. Volunteers
can be trained relatively quickly for specific functions, but their overall performance
also needs to align with the organization’s mission and values. Due to the central importance
of fund-raising, the public perception of the organization is extremely important. Consequently,
Mary needs to vet new volunteers, which adds to the work involved.
Mary was finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain volunteers. She was
25% below the organizational goal for the number of volunteers. Fifteen volunteer posi-
tions were vacant. Additionally, the volunteers were not staying very long. The turnover
rate appeared to be increasing, but Mary did not have data to confirm the impression.
She did not know how long volunteers typically stayed. She did not have clear informa-
tion as to why they were leaving, because she was not conducting exit interviews.
The organization had a commitment to understand the needs of the volunteers, the
reasons they do the work, and the conditions that may entice them to stay. The executive
director noticed the gaps in the volunteer workforce, and she asked Mary to assess the sit-
uation and report her findings and suggested solutions. Mary’s first thought was to admin-
ister a survey to the existing volunteers. With survey results, she could create charts and
figures and deliver a clear presentation to the executive director and board of directors. Plus,
she could use her number-crunching skills to impress her boss. When she started thinking
what questions to ask in the survey, however, she started to feel confused. “What am
I supposed to ask them? And what does the survey tell us?”

Purpose of This Book

This book is a practical guide to research methods for students and practitioners in
public and nonprofit administration. The premise of this book is that research is an
integral part of the job for those who work in the public and nonprofit sectors.
As a practitioner, you are lucky if you have a choice to delegate research to oth-
ers. Even if your organization has a research department, you are likely to find the
analysts are overloaded and do not welcome extra work. You could consider hiring a
Another random document with
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his friends in his increasing ability and his manlier tone. I have heard
that some of his political friends tax him with indolence or negligence
in refusing to make electioneering speeches, or otherwise to bear his
part in the labor which party organization requires. I say it to his
honor. But more to his honor are the faults which his enemies lay to
his charge. I think, sir, if Mr. Sumner had any vices, we should be
likely to hear of them. They have fastened their eyes like
microscopes for five years on every act, word, manner and
movement, to find a flaw,—and with what result? His opponents
accuse him neither of drunkenness nor debauchery, nor job, nor
speculation, nor rapacity, nor personal aims of any kind. No; but with
what? Why, beyond this charge, which it is impossible was ever
sincerely made, that he broke over the proprieties of debate, I find
him accused of publishing his opinion of the Nebraska conspiracy in
a letter to the people of the United States, with discourtesy. Then,
that he is an abolitionist; as if every sane human being were not an
abolitionist, or a believer that all men should be free. And the third
crime he stands charged with, is, that his speeches were written
before they were spoken; which, of course, must be true in Sumner’s
case, as it was true of Webster, of Adams, of Calhoun, of Burke, of
Chatham, of Demosthenes; of every first-rate speaker that ever
lived. It is the high compliment he pays to the intelligence of the
Senate and of the country. When the same reproach was cast on the
first orator of ancient times by some caviller of his day, he said, “I
should be ashamed to come with one unconsidered word before
such an assembly.” Mr. Chairman, when I think of these most small
faults as the worst which party hatred could allege, I think I may
borrow the language which Bishop Burnet applied to Sir Isaac
Newton, and say that Charles Sumner “has the whitest soul I ever
knew.”
Well, sir, this noble head, so comely and so wise, must be the
target for a pair of bullies to beat with clubs. The murderer’s brand
shall stamp their foreheads wherever they may wander in the earth.
But I wish, sir, that the high respects of this meeting shall be
expressed to Mr. Sumner; that a copy of the resolutions that have
been read may be forwarded to him. I wish that he may know the
shudder of terror which ran through all this community on the first
tidings of this brutal attack. Let him hear that every man of worth in
New England loves his virtues; that every mother thinks of him as
the protector of families; that every friend of freedom thinks him the
friend of freedom. And if our arms at this distance cannot defend him
from assassins, we confide the defence of a life so precious to all
honorable men and true patriots, and to the Almighty Maker of men.
[149]
 IX
SPEECH

AT THE KANSAS RELIEF MEETING IN

CAMBRIDGE WEDNESDAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 10, 1856

And ye shall succor men;

’Tis nobleness to serve;
Help them who cannot help again:
Beware from right to swerve.

SPEECH ON AFFAIRS IN KANSAS

I regret, with all this company, the absence of Mr. Whitman of
Kansas, whose narrative was to constitute the interest of this
meeting. Mr. Whitman is not here; but knowing, as we all do, why he
is not, what duties kept him at home, he is more than present. His
vacant chair speaks for him. For quite other reasons, I had been
wiser to have stayed at home, unskilled as I am to address a political
meeting, but it is impossible for the most recluse to extricate himself
from the questions of the times.
There is this peculiarity about the case of Kansas, that all the right
is on one side. We hear the screams of hunted wives and children
answered by the howl of the butchers. The testimony of the
telegraphs from St. Louis and the border confirm the worst details.
The printed letters of border ruffians avow the facts. When pressed
to look at the cause of the mischief in the Kansas laws, the President
falters and declines the discussion; but his supporters in the Senate,
Mr. Cass, Mr. Geyer, Mr. Hunter, speak out, and declare the
intolerable atrocity of the code. It is a maxim that all party spirit
produces the incapacity to receive natural impressions from facts;
and our recent political history has abundantly borne out the maxim.
But these details that have come from Kansas are so horrible, that
the hostile press have but one word in reply, namely, that it is all
exaggeration, ’tis an Abolition lie. Do the Committee of Investigation
say that the outrages have been overstated? Does their dismal
catalogue of private tragedies show it? Do the private letters? Is it an
exaggeration, that Mr. Hopps of Somerville, Mr. Hoyt of Deerfield, Mr.
Jennison of Groton, Mr. Phillips of Berkshire, have been murdered?
That Mr. Robinson of Fitchburg has been imprisoned? Rev. Mr. Nute
of Springfield seized, and up to this time we have no tidings of his
fate?
In these calamities under which they suffer, and the worst which
threaten them, the people of Kansas ask for bread, clothes, arms
and men, to save them alive, and enable them to stand against
these enemies of the human race. They have a right to be helped,
for they have helped themselves.
This aid must be sent, and this is not to be doled out as an
ordinary charity; but bestowed up to the magnitude of the want, and,
as has been elsewhere said, “on the scale of a national action.” I
think we are to give largely, lavishly, to these men. And we must
prepare to do it. We must learn to do with less, live in a smaller
tenement, sell our apple-trees, our acres, our pleasant houses. I
know people who are making haste to reduce their expenses and
pay their debts, not with a view to new accumulations, but in
preparation to save and earn for the benefit of the Kansas emigrants.
We must have aid from individuals,—we must also have aid from
the state. I know that the last legislature refused that aid. I know that
lawyers hesitate on technical grounds, and wonder what method of
relief the legislature will apply. But I submit that, in a case like this,
where citizens of Massachusetts, legal voters here, have emigrated
to national territory under the sanction of every law, and are then set
on by highwaymen, driven from their new homes, pillaged, and
numbers of them killed and scalped, and the whole world knows that
this is no accidental brawl, but a systematic war to the knife, and in
defiance of all laws and liberties,—I submit that the governor and
legislature should neither slumber nor sleep till they have found out
how to send effectual aid and comfort to these poor farmers, or else
should resign their seats to those who can. But first let them hang
the halls of the state-house with black crape, and order funeral
service to be said for the citizens whom they were unable to defend.
We stick at the technical difficulties. I think there never was a
people so choked and stultified by forms. We adore the forms of law,
instead of making them vehicles of wisdom and justice. I like the
primary assembly. I own I have little esteem for governments. I
esteem them only good in the moment when they are established. I
set the private man first. He only who is able to stand alone is
qualified to be a citizen. Next to the private man, I value the primary
assembly, met to watch the government and to correct it. That is the
theory of the American State, that it exists to execute the will of the
citizens, is always responsible to them, and is always to be changed
when it does not. First, the private citizen, then the primary
assembly, and the government last.
In this country for the last few years the government has been the
chief obstruction to the common weal. Who doubts that Kansas
would have been very well settled, if the United States had let it
alone? The government armed and led the ruffians against the poor
farmers. I do not know any story so gloomy as the politics of this
country for the last twenty years, centralizing ever more manifestly
round one spring, and that a vast crime, and ever more plainly, until
it is notorious that all promotion, power and policy are dictated from
one source,—illustrating the fatal effects of a false position to
demoralize legislation and put the best people always at a
disadvantage;—one crime always present, always to be varnished
over, to find fine names for; and we free statesmen, as accomplices
to the guilt, ever in the power of the grand offender.
Language has lost its meaning in the universal cant.
Representative Government is really misrepresentative; Union is a
conspiracy against the Northern States which the Northern States
are to have the privilege of paying for; the adding of Cuba and
Central America to the slave marts is enlarging the area of Freedom.
Manifest Destiny, Democracy, Freedom, fine names for an ugly
thing. They call it otto of rose and lavender,—I call it bilge-water.
They call it Chivalry and Freedom; I call it the stealing all the
earnings of a poor man and the earnings of his little girl and boy, and
the earnings of all that shall come from him, his children’s children
forever.
But this is Union, and this is Democracy; and our poor people, led
by the nose by these fine words, dance and sing, ring bells and fire
cannon, with every new link of the chain which is forged for their
limbs by the plotters in the Capitol.
What are the results of law and union? There is no Union. Can any
citizen of Massachusetts travel in honor through Kentucky and
Alabama and speak his mind? Or can any citizen of the Southern
country who happens to think kidnapping a bad thing, say so? Let
Mr. Underwood of Virginia answer. Is it to be supposed that there are
no men in Carolina who dissent from the popular sentiment now
reigning there? It must happen, in the variety of human opinions, that
there are dissenters. They are silent as the grave. Are there no
women in that country,—women, who always carry the conscience of
a people? Yet we have not heard one discordant whisper.
In the free states, we give a snivelling support to slavery. The
judges give cowardly interpretations to the law, in direct opposition to
the known foundation of all law, that every immoral statute is void.
And here of Kansas, the President says: “Let the complainants go to
the courts;” though he knows that when the poor plundered farmer
comes to the court, he finds the ringleader who has robbed him
dismounting from his own horse, and unbuckling his knife to sit as
his judge.
The President told the Kansas Committee that the whole difficulty
grew from “the factious spirit of the Kansas people respecting
institutions which they need not have concerned themselves about.”
A very remarkable speech from a Democratic President to his fellow
citizens, that they are not to concern themselves with institutions
which they alone are to create and determine. The President is a
lawyer, and should know the statutes of the land. But I borrow the
language of an eminent man, used long since, with far less occasion:
“If that be law, let the ploughshare be run under the foundations of
the Capitol;”—and if that be Government, extirpation is the only cure.
I am glad to see that the terror at disunion and anarchy is
disappearing. Massachusetts, in its heroic day, had no government
—was an anarchy. Every man stood on his own feet, was his own
governor; and there was no breach of peace from Cape Cod to
Mount Hoosac. California, a few years ago, by the testimony of all
people at that time in the country, had the best government that ever
existed. Pans of gold lay drying outside of every man’s tent, in
perfect security. The land was measured into little strips of a few feet
wide, all side by side. A bit of ground that your hand could cover was
worth one or two hundred dollars, on the edge of your strip; and
there was no dispute. Every man throughout the country was armed
with knife and revolver, and it was known that instant justice would
be administered to each offence, and perfect peace reigned. For the
Saxon man, when he is well awake, is not a pirate but a citizen, all
made of hooks and eyes, and links himself naturally to his brothers,
as bees hook themselves to one another and to their queen in a
loyal swarm.
But the hour is coming when the strongest will not be strong
enough. A harder task will the new revolution of the nineteenth
century be than was the revolution of the eighteenth century. I think
the American Revolution bought its glory cheap. If the problem was
new, it was simple. If there were few people, they were united, and
the enemy three thousand miles off. But now, vast property, gigantic
interests, family connections, webs of party, cover the land with a
network that immensely multiplies the dangers of war.[150]
Fellow citizens, in these times full of the fate of the Republic, I
think the towns should hold town meetings, and resolve themselves
into Committees of Safety, go into permanent sessions, adjourning
from week to week, from month to month. I wish we could send the
sergeant-at-arms to stop every American who is about to leave the
country. Send home every one who is abroad, lest they should find
no country to return to. Come home and stay at home, while there is
a country to save. When it is lost it will be time enough then for any
who are luckless enough to remain alive to gather up their clothes
and depart to some land where freedom exists.
 X
REMARKS

AT A MEETING FOR THE RELIEF OF THE FAMILY

OF JOHN BROWN, AT TREMONT TEMPLE,
BOSTON NOVEMBER 18, 1859

“John Brown in Kansas settled, like a steadfast Yankee farmer,

Brave and godly, with four sons—all stalwart men of might.
There he spoke aloud for Freedom, and the Border strife grew
warmer
Till the Rangers fired his dwelling, in his absence, in the night;
And Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,
Came homeward in the morning to find his house burned down.

Then he grasped his trusty rifle, and boldly fought for Freedom;
Smote from border unto border the fierce invading band:
And he and his brave boys vowed—so might Heaven help and
speed ’em—
They would save those grand old prairies from the curse that blights
the land;
And Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,
Said, ‘Boys, the Lord will aid us!’ and he shoved his ramrod down.”

Edmund Clarence Stedman, John Brown.

 JOHN BROWN
Mr. Chairman, and Fellow Citizens: I share the sympathy and
sorrow which have brought us together. Gentlemen who have
preceded me have well said that no wall of separation could here
exist. This commanding event which has brought us together,
eclipses all others which have occurred for a long time in our history,
and I am very glad to see that this sudden interest in the hero of
Harper’s Ferry has provoked an extreme curiosity in all parts of the
Republic, in regard to the details of his history. Every anecdote is
eagerly sought, and I do not wonder that gentlemen find traits of
relation readily between him and themselves. One finds a relation in
the church, another in the profession, another in the place of his
birth. He was happily a representative of the American Republic.
Captain John Brown is a farmer, the fifth in descent from Peter
Brown, who came to Plymouth in the Mayflower, in 1620. All the six
have been farmers. His grandfather, of Simsbury, in Connecticut,
was a captain in the Revolution. His father, largely interested as a
raiser of stock, became a contractor to supply the army with beef, in
the war of 1812, and our Captain John Brown, then a boy, with his
father was present and witnessed the surrender of General Hull. He
cherishes a great respect for his father, as a man of strong character,
and his respect is probably just. For himself, he is so transparent that
all men see him through. He is a man to make friends wherever on
earth courage and integrity are esteemed, the rarest of heroes, a
pure idealist, with no by-ends of his own. Many of you have seen
him, and every one who has heard him speak has been impressed
alike by his simple, artless goodness, joined with his sublime
courage. He joins that perfect Puritan faith which brought his fifth
ancestor to Plymouth Rock with his grandfather’s ardor in the
Revolution. He believes in two articles,—two instruments, shall I
say?—the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence; and
he used this expression in conversation here concerning them,
“Better that a whole generation of men, women and children should
pass away by a violent death than that one word of either should be
violated in this country.” There is a Unionist,—there is a strict
constructionist for you. He believes in the Union of the States, and
he conceives that the only obstruction to the Union is Slavery, and
for that reason, as a patriot, he works for its abolition. The governor
of Virginia has pronounced his eulogy in a manner that discredits the
moderation of our timid parties. His own speeches to the court have
interested the nation in him. What magnanimity, and what innocent
pleading, as of childhood! You remember his words: “If I had
interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-
called great, or any of their friends, parents, wives or children, it
would all have been right. But I believe that to have interfered as I
have done, for the despised poor, was not wrong, but right.”[151]
It is easy to see what a favorite he will be with history, which plays
such pranks with temporary reputations. Nothing can resist the
sympathy which all elevated minds must feel with Brown, and
through them the whole civilized world; and if he must suffer, he
must drag official gentlemen into an immortality most undesirable, of
which they have already some disagreeable forebodings. Indeed, it
is the reductio ad absurdum of Slavery, when the governor of
Virginia is forced to hang a man whom he declares to be a man of
the most integrity, truthfulness and courage he has ever met. Is that
the kind of man the gallows is built for? It were bold to affirm that
there is within that broad commonwealth, at this moment, another
citizen as worthy to live, and as deserving of all public and private
honor, as this poor prisoner.[152]
But we are here to think of relief for the family of John Brown. To
my eyes, that family looks very large and very needy of relief. It
comprises his brave fellow sufferers in the Charlestown Jail; the
fugitives still hunted in the mountains of Virginia and Pennsylvania;
the sympathizers with him in all the states; and, I may say, almost
every man who loves the Golden Rule and the Declaration of
Independence, like him, and who sees what a tiger’s thirst threatens
him in the malignity of public sentiment in the slave states. It seems
to me that a common feeling joins the people of Massachusetts with
him.
I said John Brown was an idealist. He believed in his ideas to that
extent that he existed to put them all into action; he said ‘he did not
believe in moral suasion, he believed in putting the thing through.’
He saw how deceptive the forms are. We fancy, in Massachusetts,
that we are free; yet it seems the government is quite unreliable.
Great wealth, great population, men of talent in the executive, on the
bench,—all the forms right,—and yet, life and freedom are not safe.
Why? Because the judges rely on the forms, and do not, like John
Brown, use their eyes to see the fact behind the forms. They assume
that the United States can protect its witness or its prisoner. And in
Massachusetts that is true, but the moment he is carried out of the
bounds of Massachusetts, the United States, it is notorious, afford no
protection at all; the government, the judges, are an envenomed
party, and give such protection as they give in Utah to honest
citizens, or in Kansas; such protection as they gave to their own
Commodore Paulding, when he was simple enough to mistake the
formal instructions of his government for their real meaning.[153] The
state judges fear collision between their two allegiances; but there
are worse evils than collision; namely, the doing substantial injustice.
A good man will see that the use of a judge is to secure good
government, and where the citizen’s weal is imperilled by abuse of
the federal power, to use that arm which can secure it, viz., the local
government. Had that been done on certain calamitous occasions,
we should not have seen the honor of Massachusetts trailed in the
dust, stained to all ages, once and again, by the ill-timed formalism
of a venerable bench. If judges cannot find law enough to maintain
the sovereignty of the state, and to protect the life and freedom of
every inhabitant not a criminal, it is idle to compliment them as
learned and venerable. What avails their learning or veneration? At a
pinch, they are no more use than idiots. After the mischance they
wring their hands, but they had better never have been born.[154] A
Vermont judge, Hutchinson, who has the Declaration of
Independence in his heart; a Wisconsin judge, who knows that laws
are for the protection of citizens against kidnappers, is worth a court-
house full of lawyers so idolatrous of forms as to let go the
substance. Is any man in Massachusetts so simple as to believe that
when a United States Court in Virginia, now, in its present reign of
terror, sends to Connecticut, or New York, or Massachusetts, for a
witness, it wants him for a witness? No; it wants him for a party; it
wants him for meat to slaughter and eat. And your habeas corpus is,
in any way in which it has been, or, I fear, is likely to be used, a
nuisance, and not a protection; for it takes away his right reliance on
himself, and the natural assistance of his friends and fellow citizens,
by offering him a form which is a piece of paper.
But I am detaining the meeting on matters which others
understand better. I hope, then, that, in administering relief to John
Brown’s family, we shall remember all those whom his fate concerns,
all who are in sympathy with him, and not forget to aid him in the
best way, by securing freedom and independence in Massachusetts.
 XI
JOHN BROWN

SPEECH AT SALEM, JANUARY 6, 1860

“A man there came, whence none could tell,

Bearing a touchstone in his hand,
And tested all things in the land
By its unerring spell.

A thousand transformations rose

From fair to foul, from foul to fair:
The golden crown he did not spare,
Nor scorn the beggar’s clothes.

...

Then angrily the people cried,

‘The loss outweighs the profit far;
Our goods suffice us as they are:
We will not have them tried.’

And since they could not so avail

To check his unrelenting quest,
They seized him, saying, ‘Let him test
How real is our jail!’

But though they slew him with the sword,

And in the fire his touchstone burned,
Its doings could not be o’erturned,
Its undoings restored.
And when, to stop all future harm,
They strewed its ashes to the breeze,
They little guessed each grain of these
Conveyed the perfect charm.”

William Allingham.

JOHN BROWN
Mr. Chairman: I have been struck with one fact, that the best
orators who have added their praise to his fame,—and I need not go
out of this house to find the purest eloquence in the country,—have
one rival who comes off a little better, and that is John Brown.
Everything that is said of him leaves people a little dissatisfied; but
as soon as they read his own speeches and letters they are heartily
contented,—such is the singleness of purpose which justifies him to
the head and the heart of all. Taught by this experience, I mean, in
the few remarks I have to make, to cling to his history, or let him
speak for himself.
John Brown, the founder of liberty in Kansas, was born in
Torrington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1800. When he was five
years old his father emigrated to Ohio, and the boy was there set to
keep sheep and to look after cattle and dress skins; he went
bareheaded and barefooted, and clothed in buckskin. He said that
he loved rough play, could never have rough play enough; could not
see a seedy hat without wishing to pull it off. But for this it needed
that the playmates should be equal; not one in fine clothes and the
other in buckskin; not one his own master, hale and hearty, and the
other watched and whipped. But it chanced that in Pennsylvania,
where he was sent by his father to collect cattle, he fell in with a boy
whom he heartily liked and whom he looked upon as his superior.
This boy was a slave; he saw him beaten with an iron shovel, and
otherwise maltreated; he saw that this boy had nothing better to look
forward to in life, whilst he himself was petted and made much of; for
he was much considered in the family where he then stayed, from
the circumstance that this boy of twelve years had conducted alone
a drove of cattle a hundred miles. But the colored boy had no friend,
and no future. This worked such indignation in him that he swore an
oath of resistance to slavery as long as he lived. And thus his
enterprise to go into Virginia and run off five hundred or a thousand
slaves was not a piece of spite or revenge, a plot of two years or of
twenty years, but the keeping of an oath made to heaven and earth
forty-seven years before. Forty-seven years at least, though I incline
to accept his own account of the matter at Charlestown, which
makes the date a little older, when he said, “This was all settled
millions of years before the world was made.”
He grew up a religious and manly person, in severe poverty; a fair
specimen of the best stock of New England; having that force of
thought and that sense of right which are the warp and woof of
greatness. Our farmers were Orthodox Calvinists, mighty in the
Scriptures; had learned that life was a preparation, a “probation,” to
use their word, for a higher world, and was to be spent in loving and
serving mankind.[155]
Thus was formed a romantic character absolutely without any
vulgar trait; living to ideal ends, without any mixture of self-
indulgence or compromise, such as lowers the value of benevolent
and thoughtful men we know; abstemious, refusing luxuries, not
sourly and reproachfully, but simply as unfit for his habit; quiet and
gentle as a child in the house. And, as happens usually to men of
romantic character, his fortunes were romantic. Walter Scott would
have delighted to draw his picture and trace his adventurous career.
A shepherd and herdsman, he learned the manners of animals, and
knew the secret signals by which animals communicate.[156] He
made his hard bed on the mountains with them; he learned to drive
his flock through thickets all but impassable; he had all the skill of a
shepherd by choice of breed and by wise husbandry to obtain the
best wool, and that for a course of years. And the anecdotes
preserved show a far-seeing skill and conduct which, in spite of
adverse accidents, should secure, one year with another, an honest
reward, first to the farmer, and afterwards to the dealer. If he kept
sheep, it was with a royal mind; and if he traded in wool, he was a
merchant prince, not in the amount of wealth, but in the protection of
the interests confided to him.
I am not a little surprised at the easy effrontery with which political
gentlemen, in and out of Congress, take it upon them to say that
there are not a thousand men in the North who sympathize with John
Brown. It would be far safer and nearer the truth to say that all
people, in proportion to their sensibility and self-respect, sympathize
with him. For it is impossible to see courage, and disinterestedness,
and the love that casts out fear, without sympathy. All women are
drawn to him by their predominance of sentiment. All gentlemen, of
course, are on his side. I do not mean by “gentlemen,” people of
scented hair and perfumed handkerchiefs, but men of gentle blood
and generosity, “fulfilled with all nobleness,” who, like the Cid, give
the outcast leper a share of their bed; like the dying Sidney, pass the
cup of cold water to the dying soldier who needs it more. For what is
the oath of gentle blood and knighthood? What but to protect the
weak and lowly against the strong oppressor?
Nothing is more absurd than to complain of this sympathy, or to
complain of a party of men united in opposition to slavery. As well
complain of gravity, or the ebb of the tide. Who makes the
abolitionist? The slave-holder. The sentiment of mercy is the natural
recoil which the laws of the universe provide to protect mankind from
destruction by savage passions. And our blind statesmen go up and
down, with committees of vigilance and safety, hunting for the origin
of this new heresy. They will need a very vigilant committee indeed
to find its birthplace, and a very strong force to root it out. For the
arch-abolitionist, older than Brown, and older than the Shenandoah
Mountains, is Love, whose other name is Justice, which was before
Alfred, before Lycurgus, before slavery, and will be after it.[157]
 XII
THEODORE PARKER

AN ADDRESS AT THE MEMORIAL MEETING AT

THE MUSIC HALL, BOSTON, JUNE 15, 1860

“Here comes Parker, the Orson of parsons, a man

Whom the Church undertook to put under her ban.—
...
There’s a background of God to each hard-working feature,
Every word that he speaks has been fierily furnaced
In the blast of a life that has struggled in earnest:
There he stands, looking more like a ploughman than priest,
If not dreadfully awkward, not graceful at least;
...
But his periods fall on you, stroke after stroke,
Like the blows of a lumberer felling an oak,
You forget the man wholly, you’re thankful to meet
With a preacher who smacks of the field and the street,
And to hear, you’re not over-particular whence,
Almost Taylor’s profusion, quite Latimer’s sense.”

—Lowell, A Fable for Critics.

THEODORE PARKER
At the death of a good and admirable person we meet to console
and animate each other by the recollection of his virtues.
 I have the feeling that every man’s biography is at his own
expense. He furnishes not only the facts but the report. I mean that
all biography is autobiography. It is only what he tells of himself that
comes to be known and believed. In Plutarch’s lives of Alexander
and Pericles, you have the secret whispers of their confidence to
their lovers and trusty friends. For it was each report of this kind that
impressed those to whom it was told in a manner to secure its being
told everywhere to the best, to those who speak with authority to
their own times and therefore to ours. For the political rule is a
cosmical rule, that if a man is not strong in his own district, he is not
a good candidate elsewhere.
He whose voice will not be heard here again could well afford to
tell his experiences; they were all honorable to him, and were part of
the history of the civil and religious liberty of his times. Theodore
Parker was a son of the soil, charged with the energy of New
England, strong, eager, inquisitive of knowledge, of a diligence that
never tired, upright, of a haughty independence, yet the gentlest of
companions; a man of study, fit for a man of the world; with decided
opinions and plenty of power to state them; rapidly pushing his
studies so far as to leave few men qualified to sit as his critics.[158]
He elected his part of duty, or accepted nobly that assigned him in
his rare constitution. Wonderful acquisition of knowledge, a rapid wit
that heard all, and welcomed all that came, by seeing its bearing.
Such was the largeness of his reception of facts and his skill to
employ them that it looked as if he were some president of council to
whom a score of telegraphs were ever bringing in reports; and his
information would have been excessive, but for the noble use he
made of it ever in the interest of humanity. He had a strong
understanding, a logical method, a love for facts, a rapid eye for their
historic relations, and a skill in stripping them of traditional lustres.
He had a sprightly fancy, and often amused himself with throwing his
meaning into pretty apologues; yet we can hardly ascribe to his mind
the poetic element, though his scholarship had made him a reader
and quoter of verses. A little more feeling of the poetic significance of
his facts would have disqualified him for some of his severer offices
to his generation. The old religions have a charm for most minds
which it is a little uncanny to disturb. ’Tis sometimes a question, shall
we not leave them to decay without rude shocks? I remember that I
found some harshness in his treatment both of Greek and of Hebrew
antiquity, and sympathized with the pain of many good people in his
auditory, whilst I acquitted him, of course, of any wish to be flippant.
He came at a time when, to the irresistible march of opinion, the
forms still retained by the most advanced sects showed loose and
lifeless, and he, with something less of affectionate attachment to the
old, or with more vigorous logic, rejected them. ’Tis objected to him
that he scattered too many illusions. Perhaps more tenderness
would have been graceful; but it is vain to charge him with perverting
the opinions of the new generation.
The opinions of men are organic. Simply, those came to him who
found themselves expressed by him. And had they not met this
enlightened mind, in which they beheld their own opinions combined
with zeal in every cause of love and humanity, they would have
suspected their opinions and suppressed them, and so sunk into
melancholy or malignity—a feeling of loneliness and hostility to what
was reckoned respectable. ’Tis plain to me that he has achieved a
historic immortality here; that he has so woven himself in these few
years into the history of Boston, that he can never be left out of your
annals. It will not be in the acts of city councils, nor of obsequious
mayors; nor, in the state-house, the proclamations of governors, with
their failing virtue—failing them at critical moments—that coming
generations will study what really befell; but in the plain lessons of
Theodore Parker in this Music Hall, in Faneuil Hall, or in legislative
committee rooms, that the true temper and authentic record of these
days will be read. The next generation will care little for the chances
of elections that govern governors now, it will care little for fine
gentlemen who behaved shabbily; but it will read very intelligently in
his rough story, fortified with exact anecdotes, precise with names
and dates, what part was taken by each actor; who threw himself
into the cause of humanity and came to the rescue of civilization at a
hard pinch, and who blocked its course.
The vice charged against America is the want of sincerity in
leading men. It does not lie at his door. He never kept back the truth