Trainer Basics

Level 1 Evaluation

Kirkpatrick’s level 1 evaluates the learner’s opinion of the training. It is usually done as a questionnaire—often called a “smile sheet”—based on a response scale called the Likert scale. You have most likely used this type of scale to rate an organization’s customer service representatives or to evaluate types of service or products. A Likert scale offers various responses, oftentimes ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.”

Once you know that you need to evaluate your training and understand clearly what you intend to do with data once you collect it, your next job is selecting the right evaluation instrument. (By the way, the word instrument is another one of those trainer-speak words.) An instrument simply ...