What is the evaluation conducted to determine the extent of the trainees who have participated in the training program?

Training evaluation is the systematic process of collecting information and using that information to improve your training. Evaluation provides feedback to help you identify if your training achieved your intended outcomes, and helps you make decisions about future trainings.

Evaluation is the final phase in the ADDIE model, but you should think about your evaluation plan early in the training design process. Work with training developers and other stakeholders to identify:

the evaluation purpose,
the evaluation questions,
and the data collection methods.

Your training stakeholders might include the intended audience, organizational leaders, or others with an interest in the training.

An evaluation purpose explains why you are conducting an evaluation. To help shape your evaluation purpose, consider who will use the findings, how they will use them, and what they need to know.

You might use training evaluation findings to:

Develop a new training
Improve an existing training
Provide instructor feedback
Determine if your training met the desired outcomes
Make decisions about resource allocation

Evaluation Purpose Examples

You have an online training, and find that many learners start but do not complete the training. You want to do an evaluation to determine how to improve completions.
Your program invests heavily in classroom training. You need to know if the trainings are effective to justify the resources your program is using.

Create evaluation questions that match your purpose. Evaluation questions are broad, overarching questions that support your evaluation purpose—they are not specific test or survey questions for learners to answer.
Evaluation questions are often focused in one of two categories: process or outcome.

Process evaluation questions focus on the training itself—things like the content, format, and delivery of the training.

Process Evaluation Question Examples

To what extent does the training meet CDC’s Quality Training Standards?
To what extent did the training reach the intended audience?
How can we make the training more engaging?

Outcome evaluation questions focus on changes in the training participants – things like learning and the transfer of learning. For more information, see Training Effectiveness.

Outcome Evaluation Question Examples

How much did learners’ knowledge increase?
To what extent were learning objectives met?
To what extent did learners apply what they learned when they returned to work after the training?

Choose data collection methods that will help you answer your evaluation questions. Common methods include tests or quizzes, surveys or questionnaires, observation, expert or peer review, and interviews and focus groups. Identify how long it will take to access this data and how often you will collect it. Develop a timeline for when to collect, analyze, and interpret data so that you will have the information ready when you need it.

Keep feasibility in mind when you select data collection methods. The resources, time and effort required in your evaluation plan should match the scope of the training, and should fit within your available resources.

refers to the benefits that the company and the trainees receive from training. Benefits for trainees include learning new skills or behaviors. Benefits for company includes increased sales and more satisfied customers.

refers to measures that the trainer and the company use to evaluate training programs.

training outcomes / criteria

refers to the process of collecting the outcomes needed to determine whether training is effective.

refers to the collection of information that will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program.

refers to the evaluation of training that takes place during program design and development.

refers to the process of previewing the training program with potential trainees and managers or with other customers.

refers to an evaluation conducted to determine the extent to which trainees have changed as a result of participating in the training program.

refers to trainees' perceptions of the program, including the facilities, trainers, and content.

are used to determine the degree to which trainees are familiar with the principles, facts, techniques, procedures, and processes emphasized in the training program.

are used to assess the level of technical or motor skills and behaviors.

outcomes that include attitudes and motivation.

are used to determine the training program's payoff for the company.

refers to comparing the training's monetary benefits with the const of the training. Referred to as level 5 evaluation.

return on investment (ROI)

costs that include salaries and benefits for all employees involved in training, including trainees, instructors, consultants, and employees who design the program; program materials and supplies; equipment or classroom rentals or purchases; and travel costs.

costs that are not related directly to the design, development, or delivery of the training program.

these are the value that the company gains from the training program.

refers to the extent to which training outcomes are related to the learned capabilities emphasized in the training program.

refers to the extent that training outcomes measure inappropriate capabilities or are affected by extraneous conditions

refers to the failure to measure training outcomes that were emphasized in the training objectives.

refers to the degree to which outcomes can be measured consistently over time.

refers to the degree to which trainees' performance on the outcome actually reflects true differences in performance.

refers to the ease with which the outcome measures can be collected.

refers to factors that will lead an evaluator to question either the believability of the study results or the extent to which the evaluation results are generalizable to other groups of trainees and situations.

refers to the believability of study results.

refers to the generalizability of the study results to other groups and situations.

a baseline measure of the training outcome.

a measure of outcomes taken after training is taken.

refers to a group of employees who participate in the evaluation study but do not attend the training program.

refers to employees in an evaluation study performing at a high level simply because of the attention they are receiving.

refers to assigning employees to the training or comparison group on the basis of chance alone.

refers to an evaluation design in which only post training outcomes are collected.

refers to an evaluation design in which both pre training and post training outcomes measures are collected.

refers to an evaluation design that includes trainees and a comparison group.

pre-test / post-test with comparison group

refers to an evaluation design in which training outcomes are collected at periodic intervals both before and after training.

refers to a time period in which participants no longer receive training intervention.

design combines the pre-test / post-test comparison group and the post test only control group design.

in this situation is the process of determining the economic benefits of a training program using accounting methods that look at training costs and benefits.

is a cost-benefit analysis method that involves assessing the dollar value of training based on estimates of the difference in job performance between trained and untrained employees, the number of individuals trained, the length of time a training program is expected to influence performance, and the variability in job performance in the untrained group of employees.

refers to the process through which evaluation demonstrates to key business stake holders that their training expectations have been satisfied.

return on expectations (ROE)

refers to concrete examples of the impact of training that show how learning has led to results that the company finds worthwhile and the managers find credible.

refers to the practice of using quantitative methods and scientific methods to analyze data from human resources databases, corporate financial statements, employee surveys, and other datasources to make evidence based decisions and show that human resource practices influence important company metrics.

refers to a computer interface designed to receive and analyze the data from departments within the company to provide information to managers and other decision makers.