Reversing the Lens: Assessing the Use of Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey in Public Administration Research

Despite the proliferation of published work using the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) data, the scholarly community to date lacks a review of the practices and value associated with how scholars have used the survey data in their research. We turn a lens at the public administration research that has used the FEVS to this point. We assess the extent to which peer-reviewed studies follow the fundamental criteria of conducting empirical studies using survey data—from accepted guidelines and practices for preinferential evaluations of survey data to the reporting of baseline and advanced standards and practices of analytical methods for measurement and quantitative analysis. Our review provides an overarching appraisement of public management scholarship employing the FEVS, which can strengthen the partnership between OPM and public administration scholars as they jointly continue improving the survey instrument and pursue questions critical to effective governance.