Viešųjų paslaugų tyrimų kryptys: kokybinio požiūrio plėtros poreikio pagrindimas

Abstract

The objective of this article is to dispute the importance of qualitative approach in the research of public services. The paper analyzes theoretical and methodological fundamentals of public services research. The need for the development of qualitative tools is substantiated by revealing the core problems of organizing and evaluating public service delivery as well as theoretical dimensions of service-dominant logic. The first part of the paper examines public services research in Lithuania. The second part deals with indicators, disturbances and limitations of the evaluation of public services. Factors that should be analyzed toward service-dominant approach are discussed in the third chapter, and the importance of qualitative tools is motivated in the last one. This article is not intended to be anti-quantitative, but it draws inference that it is advisable to combine the elements of quantitative methodology and qualitative approach. It is stated that qualitative analysis allows a comprehensive understanding on links of the processes and factors that determine the problems of public service delivery, while quantitative tools usually show the existence of such problems. The paper also stresses potentialities of qualitative approach on tempering interactions among all the parties concerned with public service delivery, as such interactions tend to be the main contributors of public sector’s competitiveness in a contemporary era of hybrid settings.