Simulation Gaming in Research of Public Administration (Dutch)

Some questions in the study of public administration are difficult to answer on the basis of field research. A field of inquiry may be absent, as in the case of research that seeks to explore future outcomes of present policies, or of policies that are still being developed. Another example is that of policy assessment through the analysis of likely policy processes under several different conditions. In this case too, processes are to be examined that have not occurred in real life. Simulation gaming enables the study of such processes and, moreover, allows for the possibility to distinguish between structural and occasional effects on policy processes. Simulation gaming can be used in many cases in which ‘real life’ data collection is difficult, and is a potentially important instrument in public administration research