TABLE OF CONTENTS What's in This Chapter?
Purposes of evaluation
Levels of measurement and evaluation
Programme evaluation options
This chapter will give you some ideas about how to evaluate your training programme. Evaluation of results will depend on what you are looking for in terms of benefits to participants and to the organization.
There are many ways to evaluate training. The purpose of your evaluation will determine the evaluation methods you use.
Before training begins, determine the purpose of evaluating your programme. In fact, this is a useful subject to address with organizational leaders. Trainers often begin a programme without thinking about how the programme fits into a strategic plan or how it supports and promotes specific business goals. The discussion in Chapter 3 on assessing strategic needs addresses how a customer service programme might match larger business goals and support the organization's mission and vision. Talking with influential leaders about how you will evaluate your customer service programme will encourage them to buy into the programme. It also will heighten the visibility of training and help create partnerships within different areas of the organization.
Donald Kirkpatrick (1977), one of the leading experts in measuring training results, identified four levels of measurement and evaluation. Deciding which of these four levels are most important to you will help you determine the purpose of your evaluation and the methods you might use to conduct it.
Level I Reaction: Measures how participants react to the training event.
Level II Learning:
