Objective: Establish a management model based on formative research, in order to raise the investigative skills of official students enrolled in the General Staff course of the Naval War Academy of the Republic of Ecuador.
 
Methods: Follows a quantitative approach and is framed in a non-experimental descriptive cross-sectional design. For data collection, the survey technique and a questionnaire based on the Likert scale, which consisted of 33 statements, were used. This tool previously validated by experts. It was applied to a sample of 39 students, reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's Alpha coefficient and the Shapiro Wilks Normality Test.
 
Results: whose results averaged 0.939 and 0.9586, respectively. The analysis of the information reflects the distribution of formative research at the following levels: high - 32.05%; medium - 38.62%; and low - 29.33%. Regarding investigative competencies, the results were distributed as follows: high - 31.09%; medium - 47.92%; and low - 20.99%.
 
Conclusions: Based on these conclusions, a model of Formative Research Management is proposed that contributes to the strengthening of investigative skills and that will have a substantial impact on the improvement of future Navy officers.