Perceptions of Costa Rican Public Administration

This project grew out of a partnership between the University of Costa Rica’s Center for Public Administration Research and Training (CICAP) and its public-innovation lab, Innovaap, where I worked. Over several months we surveyed public servants going through CICAP’s training programs about how they experienced Costa Rica’s public administration, with a focus on public employment.

My role was research coordinator. I led a team of undergraduate researchers and coordinated every phase of the study: organizing the survey work, structuring the analysis of responses on management by results and public value, competency and performance management, and compensation and career development, and guiding how those patterns were read for public-employment reform. I want to be clear about the nature of that contribution: I am not a listed author of the paper. My work was to run the research process and keep the team moving from question to finished study.

That process resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in the journal Administrar lo Público at the University of Costa Rica. It was my introduction to leading a research team end to end, and it shaped how I coordinate research work today. If you’d like to see the full study or how it’s presented on Innovaap’s site, both are linked on this page.