Confirmative Evaluation

Joan Conway Dessinger is founder of and senior consultant with The Lake Group, a performance improvement consulting firm. She is the coauthor of two books with James L. Moseley and Darlene Van Tiem. The books won the 2001 and 2003 Award for Excellence in Instructional Communication from the International Society for Performance Improvement. She is also a contributor to Distance Training and Sustaining Distance Training, both from Jossey-Bass. James L. Moseley is an associate professor of community medicine at Wayne State University and is also on the faculty of the College of Education, in the instructional technology department. He has won numerous awards for teaching and mentoring and frequently consults with business and industry on program evaluation and needs assessment.

List of Figures, Tables, and Performance Support Tools xv Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction: Getting the Most from This Resource xix

PART 1 The Challenge

Chapter 1: Full-Scope Evaluation: Raising the Bar 3

Evaluation: The Full Scope 5

Comparing the Four Types of Evaluation 11

Evaluation: Full-Scope Model 15

Challenges to Full-Scope Evaluation 17

Chapter 2: Confirmative Evaluation: A Model Guides the Way 21

Confirmative Evaluation Model 22

Challenges to Implementing Confirmative Evaluation 29

Why Bother? 33

PART 2 Meeting the Challenge

Chapter 3: Preplan: Assess Training Program Evaluability 41

When to Plan Confirmative Evaluation 43

How to Plan a Confirmative Evaluation 45

Assess Evaluability 48

Challenges to Evaluability Assessment 68

Chapter 4: Plan: The Plan's the Thing 73

What's in a Confirmative Evaluation Plan? 75

Review, Validate, and Approve the Plan 101

Chapter 5: Do: For Goodness' Sake 107

Jump-Start Data Collection 108

Focus Data Collection 112

Collect the Data 116

Train the Data Collectors 127

Store the Data 127

Manage the Data-Collection Process 128

Chapter 6: Analyze: Everything Old Is New Again 133

Get Ready, Get Set 134

Prepare the Confirmative Evaluation Data 135

Now Analyze 137

Interpret Confirmative Evaluation Results 143

Make Results-Based Recommendations 146

Report Confirmative Evaluation Results 147

Chapter 7: Improve: Now What? 157

Focus on Utilization 158

Assume the Role 162

Accept the Challenge 163

Alignment: The Last Word 168

PART 3 Lessons from Oz

Chapter 8: Case Study: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! 175

The Case Study 176

Meta Evaluation 186

Final Thoughts 188

Chapter 9: Conclusion: We’re Not in Oz Anymore 191

Issues That Challenge Confirmative Evaluators 192

Evaluation as an Emerging Discipline 197

Improving the Process 198

Put Yourself in the Picture 199

Glossary 203

References 211

Index 221

About the Authors 227

About the Series Editors 229

About the Advisory Board Members 233