A micro-level outcomes evaluation of a skills capacity intervention within the South African public service: Towards an impact evaluation

• Main Authors: Petronella Jonck, Riaan de Coning, Paul S. Radikonyana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AOSIS 2018-07-01
• Series: South African Journal of Human Resource Management
• Subjects: training outcomes; public service training; training evaluation framework; knowledge increase; pretest-posttest
• Online Access: https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/1000
• ISSN: 1683-7584; 2071-078X

Orientation: Interest in measuring the impact of skills development interventions has increased in recent years.   Research purpose: This article reports on an outcomes evaluation under the ambit of an impact assessment with reference to a research methodology workshop.   Motivation of the study: A paucity of studies could be found measuring the workshop outcomes, especially within the public service as it pertains to training interventions.   Research approach/design and method: A pretest–post-test research design was implemented. A paired-sample t-test was used to measure the knowledge increase while controlling for the influence of previous training by means of an analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis.   Main findings: Results indicated that the increase in research methodology knowledge was statistically significant. Previous training influenced the model only by 0.8%, which was not statistically significant.   Practical/managerial implications: It is recommended that the suggested framework and methodology be utilised in future research as well as in monitoring and evaluation endeavours covering various training interventions.   Contribution/value add: The study provides evidence of the impact generated by a training intervention, within the South African Public Service. Thus, addressing a research gap in the corpus of knowledge.