Date of Award

1-1-2009

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Public Administration and Policy

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 152 pages) : PDF file, illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Irene Lurie

Committee Members

Frank Thompson, Gerald Marschke

Keywords

Content Analysis, Discretion, Public Management, Street-Level Bureaucrats, Welfare Policy Implementation, Public welfare administration

Subject Categories

Public Administration

Abstract

This study uses content analysis to investigate caseworkers' use of discretion during application interviews for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamp (FS), or Medicaid (MA). One hundred twenty two application interviews were observed in 2000 for three local offices in both Michigan (1 metropolitan, 1 suburban, and 1 rural office) and Texas (2 metropolitan and 1 suburban office). Previous literature suggested that caseworkers had discretion in three areas--1) manipulating information, 2) distributing transaction costs, and 3) stigmatizing clients.

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