Pre-Training Survey Questions: The What, Why, and How

Did you know that according to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll, 98% of employers have some career development programs in place? While this data is all rosy on the front, a deeper probe into the same report revealed a rather glaring disconnect. The workers, specifically 80% of them, admitted they were “on their own” to navigate their career development.

So, what could potentially be wrong here? Doesn’t every training initiative work out well? Well, not really. Believe it or not, holding a training session without first consulting with your employees can be worse than not having one at all.

To bridge this gap and boost workplace happiness, a pre-training survey could be just the solution you need. So in this blog post, we will help you:

• Understand what a pre-training survey is
• Explore a ready-to-use pre-training survey template
• Make note of oft-asked pre-training survey questions
• Uncover tips & tricks to get the most out of your pre-training survey

 What is a pre-training survey?

True to its name, a pre-training survey is rolled out before conducting a training session to:

1. Identify your respondents’ prior knowledge and understanding of the topic
2. Determine what your participants are hoping to learn through the session
3. Note down their requirements
4. Gauge how they rate the pre-course process
5. Make amends to the course content to meet the participants’ levels

Thus, pre-training survey questions help the organizations gather information regarding the employees’ expectations and subsequently conduct the training session in a way that matches their expectations.

Free pre-training survey template

When it comes to staying on top of your training game, nothing beats the feel of a conversational and engaging survey that asks all the right questions. Lucky for you, we’ve created one such ready-to-use survey template that can help you get started in a jiffy.

Want to customize it further and add your own unique touches to it? You can do that as well; all without breaking into a sweat.

Here’s how SurveySparrow can help with effective employee training: we go beyond survey creation and sharing. With our no-code platform, you can easily collect, organize, and manage your form data. Plus, our report builder automatically turns that data into visually appealing, live reports.

Get free access. Sign up with your email and start using the template already

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You heard that right. Sign up and start your survey in minutes. There’s no catch, we promise 🙂

You can always continue with the Forever Free plan if that suits your needs.

Pre-training survey questions: Examples

1. How would you rate your current understanding of [topic]?

This question is particularly useful for measuring your respondent’s knowledge. This will help the planning committee and course instructor to decide what type of content and materials to offer.

2. What level of expertise do you expect from this training?

This question will help you uncover the delegates’ expectations and give you a crystal clear idea of how comprehensive your course/training needs to be structured. This way, you can meet their objectives and in the end, check for any misalignments between the course you’re offering and the value that participants see in how it is being delivered.

3. Have you taken any course within [industry] prior to this one?

By asking this question, one can deduce if the participants have had any specific training to validate their understanding and expertise on a certain topic. This will help the training planners to recognize what each participant know, and more importantly, what they’re working on and hoping to build on.

4. What made you choose THIS course?

Asking this question will help you uncover why delegates chose this specific course over the other ones available. Is it that a particular module that you offer holds great interest to them? Does a majority of them favor your course because they find your learning instructor offers more strategic learning than your competitors’? Whatever it is, these learnings can be instrumental in figuring out what you’re doing right and continuing to do it.

5. How do you learn most effectively?

Not every people learn the same. Thus, it is crucial to know the preferred learning styles of your participants to help them absorb information more readily and make the learning experience a lot more fun and enjoyable. This way, you can also tailor your content delivery to match their learning style and adopt a process that will benefit them.

6. What are you looking to get from this training?

The success of any training program depends on meeting the expectations of your trainees. Thus, by asking this question prematurely, one can gather valuable insights into the type of effective training that needs to be implemented.

7. Do you have any questions about the course?

Never let delegates walk into your training with unanswered/unaddressed questions. Hence, it is vital to give them a space to clarify their doubts related to training, equipment, location, pre-requisites, or COVID measures. It’s a simple question, but one you’d be wise not to leave out.

Tips for writing pre-training surveys that snap!

Before you start employing these pre-training survey questions, here are some pointers to get more people to complete your survey –

Be conversational

A good pre-training survey should feel flowy, effortless, and conversational. So remember to use an engaging survey software such as SurveySparrow that helps you create highly interactive surveys through a mix of images, texts, buttons, video, and audio files.

Be casual

The last thing your participants would want is to be struck with a barrage of repetitive and unintelligent questions that do not apply to them. Don’t scare them away with poorly-formed questions and avoid jargon altogether.

Be varied

Make sure not to stick to the same ‘ol multiple-choice questions throughout your survey. Instead, play around with different question types such as Yes/no, picture-choice questions, matrix questions, etc. This will keep the fun intact and your respondents answering :”)