To evaluate in Depth

Epistemological, Methodological Dimensions and Practical Experiences from a New Perspective of Public Policy Evaluation

Abstract

The article analyzes the epistemological and methodological dimensions, and practical experiences from the perspective of avaliação em profundidade - AP, proposed by Rodrigues (2008), within the scope of the Master in Public Policy Assessment at the Federal University of Ceará - MAPP / UFC, which problematizes the conventional evaluations and encompasses new dimensions that aim to approximate the evaluation of subjects and contexts where policies are effectively implemented. Methodologically, this article focuses on bibliographic research, presenting the contributions of authors dealing with AP, as well as analyzing three practical experiences of evaluation, carried out by MAPP students and which are close to the premises of AP. As results, the analysis of an intellectual trajectory of the AP was built, which dialogues with interpretive evaluation paradigms, moving away, epistemologically and methodologically, from conventional hegemonic paradigms in the field of public policy evaluation. In turn, evaluative practices reveal how AP has been effectively built on substantive evaluations carried out at MAPP. Finally, the final considerations highlight the specificities of the AP in incorporating, in the evaluation, the understanding of the concrete experience of the policy and its approximation with the subjects, constituting a challenge for the affirmation of more democratic knowledge in the evaluation of public policies.