Analyzing Training Effectiveness
Donald
Kirkpatrick, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin and past
president of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), first
published his Four-Level Training Evaluation Model in 1959, in the US Training
and Development Journal.
The
model was then updated in 1975, and again in 1994, when he published his
best-known work, "Evaluating Training Programs."
The four levels are:
1. Reaction.
2. Learning.
3. Behavior.
4. Results.
Level 1: Reaction
This level measures how your trainees (the people being
trained), reacted to the training. Obviously, you want them to feel that the
training was a valuable experience, and you want them to feel good about the
instructor, the topic, the material, its presentation, and the venue. It's
important to measure reaction, because it helps you understand how well the
training was received by your audience. It also helps you improve the training
for future trainees, including identifying important areas or topics that are
missing from the training.
Level 2: Learning
At level 2, you measure what your trainees have learned.
How much has their knowledge increased as a result of the training?
When you
planned the training session, you hopefully started with a list of specific
learning objectives: these should be the starting point for your measurement.
Keep in mind that you can measure learning in different ways depending on these
objectives, and depending on whether you're interested in changes to knowledge,
skills, or attitude.
It's
important to measure this, because knowing what your trainees are learning and
what they aren't will help you improve future training.
Level 3: Behavior
At this level, you evaluate how far your trainees have changed their behavior, based on the training they received. Specifically, this looks at how trainees apply the information.
It's
important to realize that behavior can only change if conditions are favorable.
For instance, imagine you've skipped measurement at the first two Kirkpatrick
levels and, when looking at your group's behavior, you determine that no
behavior change has taken place. Therefore, you assume that your trainees
haven't learned anything and that the training was ineffective.
However, just because behavior hasn't changed, it doesn't mean that trainees haven't learned anything. Perhaps their boss won't let them apply new knowledge. Or, maybe they've learned everything you taught, but they have no desire to apply the knowledge themselves.
Level 4: Results
At this level, you analyze the final results of your training. This includes outcomes that you or your organization have determined to be good for business, good for the employees, or good for the bottom line.
Tomorrow will look at how to apply the model
