New Ways to Evaluate Teaching and Training Effectiveness.

This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of commonly used measures of job effectiveness, concentrating on a recent development in the field, the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS); and proposes a new approach, the Behavior Description Index (BDI), which the author contends reduces or avoids most of the shortcomings of other methods. After discussing the advantages and distinguishing features of BARS, the author refers to the main problems of currently used instruments that have been cited in the literature: Low inter-rater reliability, central tendency (inclination of rater to avoid extreme ratings), halo effect (tendency to assign the same rating to each factor being rated), and leniency effect (tendency of supervisors to overrate subordinates). Two shortcomings not dealt with in the literature reviewed are also presented: Waste of valuable information and multidimensionality. The paper then examines the characteristics of the BDI and claims advantages of the new scale over other scales (for example, that the BDI uses behavioral criteria; uses a larger sample of the total job behavior domain than BARS; has less leniency, halo, and central tendency effects; and probably has higher inter-rater reliability). Implications of the use of the new instrument in performance and training evaluation are discussed. References and examples of statements from the BARS are appended. (LMS)