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TRAINING TECHNIQUES -- AN UPDATE ON EXPERT OPINION AND RESEARCH (ROLE PLAY, DISCUSSION, TELEVISION LECTURE, OBJECTIVES)

MARGARET SUSAN SWIGART, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

This study contributes to the very limited amount of research available on the worthiness of instructional techniques used in business and industry today. The goals of this research are to learn with some assurance (1) if the opinions of technical/skills training specialists and management/organization development specialists differ on the effectiveness of various classroom techniques in achieving training objectives, (2) if the two groups of training specialists differ in the techniques used and the amount of time devoted to each when the subject matter of the course has been held constant, (3) if trainers view differently the effectiveness of the large group discussion technique and the small group discussion technique, and (4) if the technical/skills specialists and the management/organization development specialists read basically the same types of work-related magazines and journals. To address these goals, a mail questionnaire was sent to 200 technical/skills specialists and 200 management/organization development specialists. These subjects were all members of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). A fifty-six percent response rate was achieved with the use of a follow-up mailing. The results of the survey revealed that the technical/skills specialists and the management/organization development specialists shared the same basic perceptions about the effectiveness of various training techniques. The trainers, however, did not choose to spend equivalent amounts of time using the same techniques when the subject matter of the course had been held constant. A difference was found in the perceptions of trainers concerning the effectiveness of the small group versus the large group discussion techniques. Across all objectives, the small group discussion technique was more highly favored. The fourth question studied concerned the training specialists' work-related reading materials. This study revealed that only sixteen percent of the titles listed were common to both the technical/skills group and the management/organization development group of trainers.

Subject Area

Business education

Recommended Citation

SWIGART, MARGARET SUSAN, "TRAINING TECHNIQUES -- AN UPDATE ON EXPERT OPINION AND RESEARCH (ROLE PLAY, DISCUSSION, TELEVISION LECTURE, OBJECTIVES)" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8521490.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8521490

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