Section Six
Measures of reaction criteria typically tap participants’
satisfaction with training or their perceptions of its quality or
relevance.^50 Student evaluations of professors are examples of
such measures. Whether reaction criteria actually provide valid
standards of effectiveness is arguable because they may
indicate only satisfaction. In most industrial settings, some level
of satisfaction with training probably is a necessary, although
insufficient, condition for effectiveness. The essence of this
intuitive interpretation has been supported by a recent
empirical study that found no linear relationship between
reactions and learning. Instead, the study found that reactions
moderate the training motivation and learning relationship. It
also found that reactions have a complex relationship with
other facets of training and effectiveness criteria. In fact, the
best training results occur under conditions in which trainees
are highly motivated to learn and have a positive reaction to
the training.^51
Learning criteria are concerned with whether participants
have absorbed the concepts or con-tent of training. As such,
they are concerned with whether the trainees have learned
facts, information, techniques, strategies, and the like.^52 An
application of this criterion would be a test to determine
whether stockbroker trainees have learned the content of
training on Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.