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Checking Perceptions and Reality in Small-Town Innovation Research

This article reports on the results of a study of innovation in programs and practices on the part of city and county governments in four western states. The objective of the research was to identify any patterns or “profiles” of innovative and noninnovative behavior that might serve the interest of promoting the “reinvention of government” at the local level. An unanticipated finding concerning how “innovation” is perceived emerged when a quantitative, four-state survey was followed up with an intensive study of six matched jurisdictions (small cities/towns) in the state of Washington. The implications of this finding for the conduct of community-oriented research are discussed.