Participants' perspectives of training experiences: An exploratory qualitative study

Abstract

Perceptions concerning training and development continue to appear in practitioner literature; however, the fact that those perceptions are not explored in HRD literature is a problem. The purpose of this study was to examine perspectives of participants in organization-sponsored training. A general qualitative methodology was utilized in this study. Then, through a social constructivism lens, the researcher looked closely at the interactions described in the trainees? experiences in order to understand their assumptions and how they made sense of their experiences.\nThe researcher collected 10 interviews from participants representing various types of training experiences. The 10 interviewees identified shared experiences that led to the formation of four themes: (1) relevance and applicability, (2) attitudes and preferences, (3) immediacy, and (4) relational learning. Within the first theme, there were three subthemes: (1) responsibility for relevance and application, (2) communicating relevance, and (3) trainees? recognition of relevance and application. Theme 2, immediacy, consisted of three subthemes as well. Immediacy was explained by trainees as verbal, nonverbal, and environmental. No subthemes emerged from the other two themes. Finally, the themes revealed two episodic narratives. The two narratives were "Time is money--Is this worth the time?" and "If you don't care, I don't care." The two episodic narratives, pieced together, disclose the idea of the desired training described by the 10 participants.\nIn conclusion, the findings of the study lead to a number of implications for practice and research. This study demonstrated the importance of trainers and instructional designers to develop clear understandings regarding what trainees think of face-to-face and online training and why they hold those opinions. Also, trainers and/or instructional designers should explore the use of communication and technology theories to develop training modules. In addition to practice, scholars should conduct more qualitative studies exploring trainee perceptions in online organizational training. Finally, the findings of the study showed that instructional communication researchers have not explored the issue of the importance of out-of-the classroom learning experiences in the field of human resource development.

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