The status of evaluation research in communication training programs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and types of evaluation research methods used in communication training programs. A random sample of internal or in‐house human resource (HR) trainers were surveyed and asked to respond to a series of questions concerning evaluation practices used in planning, implementing, and assessing communication training programs. The findings suggest that: (1) HR trainers, for the most part, do not conduct needs analyses while planning communication training programs; (2) the majority of HR trainers collect data on trainees’ attitudes toward communication training programs; (3) the majority of HR trainers do not measure changes in cognitive, affective and psychomotor behaviors or job performance that may occur as a result of participation in communication training programs; (4) experimental and quasi‐experimental designs are used by only a very small percentage of HR trainers; and (5) cost benefit analyses are seldom used to assess the economic effects of com...