How do you conduct a training evaluation? Here is a quick guide on some appropriate information sources for each level.

Level 1 (Reaction)

• completed participant feedback questionnaire
• informal comments from participants
• focus group sessions with participants

Level 2 (Learning)

• pre- and post-test scores
• on-the-job assessments
• supervisor reports

Level 3 (Behavior)

• completed self-assessment questionnaire
• on-the-job observation
• reports from customers, peers and participant’s manager

Level 4 (Results)

• financial reports
• quality inspections
• interview with sales manager

When considering what sources of data you will use for your evaluation, think about the cost and time involved in collecting the data. Balance this against the accuracy of the source and the accuracy you actually need. Will existing sources suffice or will you need to collect new information?

Think broadly about where you can get information. Sources include:

• hardcopy and online quantitative reports
• production and job records
• interviews with participants, managers, peers, customers, suppliers and regulators
• checklists and tests
• direct observation
• questionnaires, self-rating and multi-rating
• Focus Group sessions

Once you have completed your evaluation, distribute it to the people who need to read it. In deciding on your distribution list, refer to your previously stated reasons for conducting the evaluation. And of course, if there were lessons learned from the evaluation on how to make your training more effective, act on them!

Our downloadable products can help you plan and implement your training evaluation project.

In the beginning, Donald Kirkpatrick set forth a four-level approach to the evaluation of training in a series of articles appearing in the journal of what was then known as the American Society of Training Directors. The first of these four seminal articles was published in November of 1959. The remaining three articles were published in the succeeding three months, with the fourth and final article appearing in February of 1960. These articles can be found in Evaluating Training Programs, a collection of articles compiled by Kirkpatrick from the pages of the ASTD Journal and published by ASTD in 1975. (Fred Nickols 2000)

This revolutionary work set the stage and gave training professionals a model by which to finally measure the effectiveness of training programs. Even today, almost 30 years after the collection of Kirkpatrick’s work was published, virtually all-training programs are still assessed using this model.

In recent years there has been growing criticism of Kirkpatrick’s approach to evaluating training programs. Kevin Kurse (the e-learning guru) points out “critics of the Kirkpatrick model say that it doesn’t take the business impact far enough and that the final step in any training program should be a "fifth level" of evaluation -- financial return. This ultimate evaluation determines the financial return on investment (ROI) of the training program”.

Many of Kirkpatrick’s detractors are they themselves trapped in what we will call the Kirkpatrick paradigm. In this exemplar, the training professional makes virtually all decisions about what is important, what should be measured, what should be reported, and what constitutes return on investment for training. Frequently these determinations occur as soon as a request for training is made, and prior to any serious discussion with the requesting party. The criteria are predetermined even before the training gets off the ground.
The reporting will correspond with, and the measurements fit into the context of Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation.


Kirkpatrick’s model fails to take into account many of the factors that contribute to identifying how return on investment is identified in other business processes. These factors, which include corporate goals, corporate culture, different audience types, and the position of the process in the organization, do not neatly fit into the Kirkpatrick model.

Other components of the Kirkpatrick paradigm encompass its methodology and language. Evaluation models based on Kirkpatrick use a legacy training approach to measure the “business” impact of the activity. These “business” results are then reported in a proprietary “training” language. A valid question to ask might be, if one is trying to show business results or impact; why not use a business model and business tools to measure, and business language to report?

From the perspective of many business people, this foreign language, unfamiliar methodology, and (what to them are) meaningless reports have long been a source of frustration. The advent of the electronic delivery of training programs, and the increased capital investment required to develop training programs, has expedited this frustration and may well have made the Kirkpatrick model and the Kirkpatrick paradigm obsolete.

This article discusses how to apply a business methodology and metrics to training programs. It will present a business model that (when applied to training) will identify the correct metrics to use, the appropriate language to speak, and the right reports to present to all stakeholders.

n Kirkpatrick's four-level model, each successive evaluation level is built on information provided by the lower level.

ASSESSING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS often entails using the four-level model developed by Donald Kirkpatrick (1994). According to this model, evaluation should always begin with level one, and then, as time and budget allows, should move sequentially through levels two, three, and four. Information from each prior level serves as a base for the next level's evaluation. Thus, each successive level represents a more precise measure of the effectiveness of the training program, but at the same time requires a more rigorous and time-consuming analysis.

Level 1 Evaluation - Reactions

Just as the word implies, evaluation at this level measures how participants in a training program react to it. It attempts to answer questions regarding the participants' perceptions - Did they like it? Was the material relevant to their work? This type of evaluation is often called a “smilesheet.” According to Kirkpatrick, every program should at least be evaluated at this level to provide for the improvement of a training program. In addition, the participants' reactions have important consequences for learning (level two). Although a positive reaction does not guarantee learning, a negative reaction almost certainly reduces its possibility.

Level 2 Evaluation - Learning

To assess the amount of learning that has occurred due to a training program, level two evaluations often use tests conducted before training (pretest) and after training (post test).

Assessing at this level moves the evaluation beyond learner satisfaction and attempts to assess the extent students have advanced in skills, knowledge, or attitude. Measurement at this level is more difficult and laborious than level one. Methods range from formal to informal testing to team assessment and self-assessment. If possible, participants take the test or assessment before the training (pretest) and after training (post test) to determine the amount of learning that has occurred.

Level 3 Evaluation - Transfer

This level measures the transfer that has occurred in learners' behavior due to the training program. Evaluating at this level attempts to answer the question - Are the newly acquired skills, knowledge, or attitude being used in the everyday environment of the learner? For many trainers this level represents the truest assessment of a program's effectiveness. However, measuring at this level is difficult as it is often impossible to predict when the change in behavior will occur, and thus requires important decisions in terms of when to evaluate, how often to evaluate, and how to evaluate.

Level 4 Evaluation- Results

Level four evaluation attempts to assess training in terms of business results. In this case, sales transactions improved steadily after training for sales staff occurred in April 1997.

Frequently thought of as the bottom line, this level measures the success of the program in terms that managers and executives can understand -increased production, improved quality, decreased costs, reduced frequency of accidents, increased sales, and even higher profits or return on investment. From a business and organizational perspective, this is the overall reason for a training program, yet level four results are not typically addressed. Determining results in financial terms is difficult to measure, and is hard to link directly with training.

Methods for Long-Term Evaluation

• Send post-training surveys
• Offer ongoing, sequenced training and coaching over a period of time
• Conduct follow-up needs assessment
• Check metrics (e.g., scrap, re-work, errors, etc.) to measure if participants achieved training objectives
• Interview trainees and their managers, or their customer groups (e.g., patients, other departmental staff)

Elaine C. Winfrey
Graduate Student
SDSU Educational Technology

A training plan should have program objectives. These are objectives that should be achieved after the training. Examples of some objectives after a training may be like this:

• The participant will be able to draw out a training needs analysis plan for his own department.

• The participant will be able to draw up a training plan based on the training needs analysis.

• The participant will be able to identify relevant topics for the training and allocate time for each topic.

• The participant will identify out the learning objectives for each topic for the members.

• The participant will be able to select the right choice of instructional techniques or methods of delivery of the training program.

• The participant will draw up the relevant assessment evaluation form for the trainees.

Timing - The selection of timing is usually of half an hour to one hour as the concentration of the trainees will not be that good after more than an hour. Breaks should be slipped in between. To keep the attention and concentration of the trainees, games activities should be introduced.

Topics should be though out and be relevant to the program or theme of the training program. For example, if the theme is 'train the trainer', then topics such as;
Introduction to speaker

1. How to conduct training needs analysis and planning of training
2. How to develop training program and learning objectives
3. How to do Program budgeting, design and development of budget
4. How to generate delivery methods and selection of delivery of training
5. How to design assessment and conduct evaluation of learning outcomes.