International Opinion
By Pat Costine (November 2005 Issue)
0 Comments 
Article Rating: 
Email to a friend | Print Version
Many commentators and practitioners perceive end of training evaluation questionnaires as less than useful. While in agreement that this is often the case, I believe that valuable feedback can indeed be gained from the happy sheet.
In my experience, many trainers feel that the information gleaned from these questionnaires should be taken with a pinch of salt. A number of reasons may lie behind this, most of which are centred around the ‘feel-good’ factor that often exists at the end of a training event and colours the subjectivity of respondents. Some specific scenarios that may contribute in this regard can be summarised as follows:
- Attendees may feel that they have worked hard during the training event but still have had something of a holiday from work.
- Completing the questionnaire is often a condition of leaving the training location.
- If the attendees have become cohesive as a group, it is much more likely that they will be mostly positive and respond accordingly. Those that haven’t are likely to either suppress their views or to not return the form.
- As the forms are usually completed at the training location and collected by the trainer, attendees are unlikely to be extremely negative.
- Some trainers may deliberately arrange the issues most likely to score highly at the beginning and the end of forms.
- Some trainers may distribute the forms when a positive mood prevails.
- Attendees may have developed an appreciation of the trainer as a person, irrespective of his/her performance as a trainer.1
Happy sheets can be a useful evaluation tool if you follow four simple steps.
STEP 1 Design
Use a combination of closed and open questions. The closed questions may involve a rating scale through which attendees can score various aspects of the training event. You should limit yourself to two or three open questions, and they should include an opportunity for comments about (a) what elements of learning will best be applicable on return to the workplace and (b) how the training event might be improved.
STEP 2 Briefing attendees
During the introductory stages of the training, attendees should be briefed about the evaluation process and informed about the use of evaluation questionnaires at the end of the event. It is seen as critical that this briefing should inform attendees about the nature of the evaluation (how the information gathered will be used, for example) and should leave attendees in no doubt that an honest and frank response is requested. Indeed, it should be emphasised that anything less will only serve to reduce the value of the exercise. Attendees should be briefed again immediately before the evaluation questionnaires are distributed, and informed about the importance of responding to the open questions set.
STEP 3 Timing of distribution
Questionnaires should be distributed to attendees at least 30 minutes before the scheduled close of the training event. Attendees should also be informed that individual verbal feedback will be requested. This should help to preclude the all too common rushed approach to completing such forms, and help to encourage attendees to provide thoughtful responses.
STEP 4 Link to verbal feedback
Formal verbal feedback should be requested from attendees on an individual basis at appropriate intervals during the event and again at the completion of evaluation questionnaires. This feedback session should elicit comments about the value gained from the event and what might be improved.
Despite opinion to the contrary, happy sheets can, when used according to these four steps, help identify an attendee’s satisfaction (or otherwise) with a training event.
Reference
1. T Garavan, P Costine and N Heraty, Training and Development in Ireland - Context, Policy and Practice, Thomson Business Press, 1995.
Pat Costine currently serves as President of the Irish Institute of Training and Development (IITD), and is an administrator and tutor on IITD Diploma, Certificate and Trainer Skills programmes. He may be contacted on +00 353 5187330 or at pat@costinetraining.com
Readers Comment
Be the first to comment on this news story