Survey Tools

The availability of online, web-based survey tools makes possible the measurement of training effectiveness, i.e., post-training application knowledge and skills on the job. This is also known as transfer of learning. Level 3 Evaluation is a way to measure the transfer of learning to on-the-job applications. Such training effectiveness feedback allows organizations to identify the strengths and weaknesses of training courses. To ensure the validity of such feedback, standardized procedures for gathering evaluation data are essential. The use of electronic means simplifies the procedure for gathering this data, and assures that it will be gathered in the same way every time.

To be effective, a survey system must provide a way for a business or government entity to create surveys specific to the data collection need. The survey tool must be intuitive, easy to use and specific to the task at hand, i.e., it must contain capabilities that are germane to the task of surveying the transfer of training. There are numerous survey tools available today. Some are software tools available for purchase; others are online survey systems.

The CORE survey solution offered by PTG International Inc. is designed as a simple, intuitive, easy-to-use, web-based system that allows survey developers to create surveys, administer them, and analyze survey responses, all in “real time”. It operates on the web servers of PTG International, Inc.

Survey developers may use the system to define one or more survey instruments, indicating the sections of the survey and the questions they contain. Various kinds of questions may be defined, including scale, drop-down list, numeric answer, multi-answer, and text answers of various lengths. Surveys can be built to display selected text based on answers to specific questions.

The survey instrument may then be administered in any or all of the following modes:

• End users may take it on the web via email generated by the CORE survey tool or directly from the developer.
• The CORE survey tool system includes an option to generate a mass emailing to end users, inviting them to take the survey via a web link.

In either situation, the respondent completes the survey and clicks a “submit” button. The system then extracts the data and emails the responses back to the CORE survey system where the data and the subjective comments are imported into the database.

The survey developer can also create and distribute floppy disks containing the survey instrument. The end user only needs an Internet browser to access the instrument on the floppy disk. A large number of respondents can complete the survey on one floppy disk. Managers can then distribute this disk to employees with computers not attached to a network, who can then use this disk to take the survey. A survey administration script on the disk stores responses on the disk, which the manager can then return to the CORE survey system for automatic processing.

Survey forms may be printed on paper and distributed to allow survey respondents to take the survey on paper. A data entry operator at PTG International, Inc. then types the responses into a rapid data entry screen. These data are then available via the web.