Performance-Based Evaluation: Tools and Techniques to Measure the Impact of Training

Chapter 10. How to Collect Data

Survey, interview, and observe—the list of possible ways to find out what the current situation is or what has changed can be endless. The challenge is figuring out what the more appropriate methods might be, given time and money constraints.

The focus of this chapter is about when and how to use the more common data-gathering methods. One of the decisions you will have to make is how to obtain the data you require. What methods you use depends on what you want to measure or discover. Sometimes you want to find out what people care about or what is going on today. In these situations you should use a data-gathering method that is especially designed to uncover what the issues are. If you want to find out whether ...