Using an Adversary Hearing to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Military Program

This study describes the design and implementation of an adversary hearing used to evaluate professional development initiatives in a military environment. The adversary hearing model used in the evaluation was developed to meet the requirements of an environment that differs from other environments in which adversary hearings have been used. The evaluation was conducted to determine whether a professional development program of the U. S. Army, Europe, actually enhanced soldier development and demonstrated consideration by leaders for their followers. Several key issues related to program effectiveness were discovered in the process of the adversary hearing that were not evident in a survey evaluation of the program.