Training Needs Assessment Data‐gathering Methods: Part 3, Focus Groups

Abstract

Explores four training needs assessment (TNA) data‐gathering methods: survey questionnaires, individual interviews, focus groups, and on‐site observations. Originally presented in condensed format in an article entitled “Training Needs Assessment: An ‘Open‐systems’ Application”, published in the Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 17 No. 1, presents the focus group method as a means for identifying organizational training needs. Presents and discusses relevant research into behavioural and group dynamics, moderator skill(s) requirements, group structure, composition, methods of interaction between the moderator and the group, teleconferencing as a variation of the focus group method, and analysis of the data. Concludes with the necessity of using focus groups in conjunction with another more numerically‐oriented method such as survey/ questionnaires in order to produce an objective balance of both qualitative as well as quantitative training data.