Concept Mapping, Social Value, and Public Administration: Public Administration in the Mind of the Public it Serves

Public Administration has a considerable history creating marked advancements in public policy, education and governance. Yet despite the fact it has such a history, a professional membership organization, bachelor's and master's degrees, and a literature to draw on, the field and its discipline are not known as well as all of these important professional and academic elements would suggest nor is the social value they create fully appreciated . Attracting students and practitioners to the field and to its degrees is made more difficult by such a lack of recognition in the public at large. Changing the perceptions of the public about the field and the discipline of Public Administration will remain a challenge until a better understanding of how distant Public Administration and its social value are from public perception individually and collectively. The approach taken here to address the issue is applying communication science and concept mapping with the added feature of distance magnitude estimation (DME). The combination of communication science and DME concept mapping can show the way in creating useful, positive messages with appropriate cognitive load for and about Public Administration. Sample messages and distribution channel suggestions also are provided.