ABSTRACT
You are a subject-matter expert and incidental trainer. Why would you want to know about conducting surveys, which is what researchers do? Surveys can serve as useful tools that help you gather necessary data during several processes in a training program:
• Needs assessment • Testing and assessment • Course evaluation • Program validation
When you perform a training needs assessment to determine the gap between desired and actual employee performance, you can solicit input from employees and their supervisors through surveys. After the training, one way to assess trainees’ transfer of learning to on-the-job application is by collecting feedback from stakeholders including customers. Reaction surveys are used to evaluate individual training courses and the whole training program. Although you can obtain information informally, solid data and statistics are much more powerful, especially in assessing program effectiveness and garnering organizational support (Phillips, 1996, 46).
