Evaluation: 10 Significant Ways for Measuring and Improving Training Impact
by Sandra Merwin
An Evaluation Start for Charity and Nonprofit Trainers
When I first started reading this book, I became angry. Then I realized I was reading it as a consulting trainer rather than a corporate or nonprofit staff trainer. Through that different viewpoint, this book is a brief and valuable guide for instituting and executing training evaluations. Given the lack of good, easily accessible “how-to” information on the subject, this book makes an excellent starting point for trainers and training managers.
Bob Pike’s introduction lists three assumptions and seven prerequisites for training success. As a consultant, I can only wish that I would have the liberty to insist on these features for every client; as a staff trainer, I can easily see that I would need the organizational “buy-in” and cooperation to make my department’s training a success.
The book was originally published in 1982 and re-released in 1992 and 1999. The timelessness of the topic means that the information is still relevant and useful; however, I would have liked to see an updated bibliography in the 1999 edition. All of the cited sources are from the 1970’s.
The ten methods that comprise ten of the book’s eleven chapters are brief and to-the-point. Even when I don’t agree with some of the details, the overall structure proposed by the author is sound and easily adaptable.
— Introduction — Foreword — Why Evaluate — Revelations! — The Basics of an Evaluation System — Planning the Evaluation System — Evaluation Systems: Planning the Ground Rules — Post Workshop Participant Evaluations — Post Workshop Leader Evaluations — The Follow-Up — Implementing the Evaluation System — Evaluation Questions and Why They Don’t Work — Developing Evaluation Questions