What do managers need from researchers, anyway? Frank P. Williams, Mar
ilyn D. McShane, and Dale Sechrest contend that the keys to successful
administrative practices for the future will be accountability and th
e management of performance review. However, structural and philsophic
al shifts in the role of evaluation research will be necessary to acco
mmodate more effective use of the tremendous amount of data now availa
ble to public administrators on a daily basis. Researchers or research
units within agencies represent the most effective way for managers t
o have data appropriately interpreted, yet, past experience has shown
that building effective working relationships between research and man
agement may not be easy. The authors explore the problems posed by lar
ge databases and the reasons behind manager/researcher conflict, using
agencies within the criminal justice system as an example. A solution
to the problem of interpreting data is proposed.