Evaluation of training programs: a case study in public administration

Abstract

This article presents and discusses the use of methodology Multicriteria Decision Aid -- Constructivist (MCDA-C) in the evaluation of training programs developed in public administration, through its application in a case study in the Military Police of Santa Catarina, specifically in assessing the process of training of military police Drug Abuse Resistance Education (Dare) instructors. Regarding the methodological framework, the nature of the objective of this study is exploratory, and the nature of the article, practical. The study incorporates an inductive logic, and draws upon primary data sources, obtained through semi-structured interviews with program managers. The study combines qualitative and quantitative methods, and can therefore be described as mixed method. This research is applied and the main technical procedure used was a case study. As result, the model built with 62 evaluation criteria, revealed that the process of the Dare reached 69 points in the overall evaluation, and also highlights the main concerns of decision makers in relation to the training program and how much each factor contributes to the success of training, individual and aggregated, showing also how to manage improvement opportunities created.