Ken Thomas - Instructional Designer | Instructional Design Job Aids & White Papers | Types of Analysis



Types of Analysis

Type of Analysis Description / Use
Goal Analysis Define specific behavior(s) to target for development or improvement based on an organizational goal.
Performance analysis or gap analysis Define the ideal or target levels of performance across a job or job cluster, then determine any "gaps" or deficiencies between current performance and target performance.
Needs analysis / root cause analysis Determine the underlying cause of a performance deficiency. This will allow you to determine the most appropriate intervention. Note: The PAQ Tool supports this type of analysis.
Feasibility analysis Determine if the benefits of doing the intervention is worth the cost of doing the training (e.g., analysis, development, delivery, time away from job, travel).
Job/task analysis Define a job according to its key tasks, then define the "best practice" approach/steps for performing each task.

Note: Identifying / selecting tasks appropriate for training typically includes assessing each task according to its:
  • Frequency (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, rarelty)
  • Level of difficulty
  • Importance/criticality
Contextual analysis For training interventions, define the context in which training will be delivered (on the job, in a classroom, computers available, etc.).
Target audience analysis Provide a defined listing of the primary and secondary audiences for the intervention. For each targetted audience, provide any information that will help customize the intervention for the audience (e.g., a younger target audience may respond to different message strategies than an older audience).
Content analysis There are two types of content analysis:
  • Content analysis to support another analysis type. In this case, the content is analyzed to determine the answers sought by the main analysis (e.g., when job descriptions are reviewed to support developing a job's list of tasks, this is a content analysis in support of a job/task analysis.

  • Content analysis to determine state of content. This type of content analysis is performed after the intervention requirements and strategy have been fully defined. Once you have defined what content is required to support the intervention, available content can be evaluated to determine what content:
    1. Can be used as is
    2. Can be used If modified
    3. Must be built from scratch

Bibliography

Barbazette, Jean. (2006). Training needs assessment: Methods, tools, and techniques. Pfeiffer.