30+ training survey questions and best survey design practices
Use these example training survey questions and design tips to create impactful and transformative surveys.
The world is changing rapidly with new technologies and globalization, making learning and development a higher priority than ever.
Most people have taken some form of knowledge and skills training in their lifetimes. New employees attend new hire training to acquire the skills they need to navigate their new workplace. A job function may require extra training to develop new skills or refresh existing ones for certification.
Training differs significantly from traditional courses, with participants expecting immediate improvements in their abilities after sessions. Surveys are essential tools for measuring training effectiveness and participant engagement. With the right training survey questions, you can assess your training effectiveness and where adjustments are needed.
What is a training survey?
Training surveys collect feedback from participants before and after sessions, allowing you to assess effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. You can also use the data to improve future training.
- Pre-training surveys can measure the participants' existing knowledge or help manage expectations for the training sessions. The survey data can help you plan that training material and assist with implementation.
- Post-training surveys help you see if your training sessions met expectations, provided value to participants, and whether it was effective.
- Training feedback survey questions collect detailed feedback about the training session itself.
- Training effectiveness survey questions assess whether the course content achieved its intended outcomes and had a lasting impact.
Why training surveys matter
Training surveys for organizations and employees offer a host of benefits. They allow organizations to improve their training programs and retain effective employees. The reality is that your employees want quality training.
According to a SurveyMonkey Audience survey, roughly 86% of employees say that job training is important to them. Most employees are even willing to spend out-of-office time on training. Your programming needs to be incredibly effective to properly take advantage of this training opportunity.
These surveys help you gather feedback, measure effectiveness, and shape future training initiatives. Training surveys:
- Invest in employee knowledge
- Gather measurable learning outcomes
- Track how training impacts employee performance
- Pinpoint areas in need of improvement
- Increase employee engagement
30+ training survey questions examples
Identifying what questions to ask in a training survey is challenging. These questions must be tuned to your audience and deliver actionable data. Use the following example questions to create effective surveys.
1. Pre-training survey questions
Pre-training survey questions assist you in gathering information on running successful training sessions. You’ll find out:
- What training is needed, and if there knowledge gaps you need to fill
- The learning expectations participants have to align training with their expectations
- Demographics of the group you are presenting to, such as whether they work full or part-time, job title, and job duties
- What special needs participants may have that require assistive equipment or training delivery
- Preferences for how you instruct the training, such as video for visual learners, lectures for auditory learners, and demonstrations for tactile learners
- Knowledge gaps with the training material so you can focus on areas for improvement and avoid redundancies
Demographics help you understand your audience, their available time commitment, and their place in your organization. It is unnecessary to ask intrusive demographic questions such as ethnicity, gender identification, or age unless they are relevant to the training subject.
With this information, you can structure your training appropriately to effectively meet the needs of your group.
Example pre-training questions
- What do you hope to learn from this training?
- Rate your current confidence level in using [specific skill/tool].
- Have you previously attended similar training sessions?
- Do you work full-time or part-time?
- If there is one thing you’d like this course to cover, what would it be?
- Are you a visual learner?
- Do you prefer to learn via lectures or hands-on sessions?
- Do you require any additional support or accommodations to take this training?
2. Post-training survey questions
Post-training surveys measure the outcomes of your training sessions. You can determine if you fulfilled your training goals and use the data to inform your next training. Analyzing your post-survey data will offer valuable insights into planning future training sessions.
With a post-training survey, you’ll discover:
Which trainings were popular
If a particular training is well-attended or positively rated by attendees, evaluate whether it is a necessary part of your training schedule. Popular training can be updated and offered more regularly. For this, simply ask:
- Did you attend this training course in its entirety?
- Would you recommend this training to a peer?
Which instructors or trainers attract the highest numbers
This is a good indicator of the most informative and effective trainers. This should be your impetus to find out what they do differently than other instructors so you can offer feedback and improvement opportunities to all trainers. Ask questions like:
- Rate the trainer’s effectiveness in delivering the material.
- Did the instructor provide clear instructions throughout the lesson?
- Was the trainer engaging and supportive?
Any barriers to learning
Was there anything that prevented the group from fully engaging in the training? Identify barriers and strategies to overcome them. Ask questions like:
- Did you have any trouble with the size or readability of the font?
- Did you have difficulty interpreting or understanding any communications?
- Was the training location accessible?
- Did you find the training material practical, intuitive, and helpful?
Adjustments to improve future sessions
Analyzing your data should reveal what improvements you can make to your future training sessions to make them more informative, effective, and attractive to attendees. Ask questions like:
- Did the training dive deep enough into the material, or did it only cover the basics?
- What do you wish the training would have explored more?
- What could be improved in future sessions?
If needs were met
Ask post-training knowledge questions to assess whether participants acquired the knowledge or skills identified in your training goals. Ask questions like:
- Was the training content relevant to your job?
- Overall, did the course meet your expectations?
- Do you feel competent and confident on the topic of this course at the end of the training program?
- Were you able to get all your questions answered during the training?
3. Training feedback survey questions
The purpose of training feedback survey questions is to gather specific feedback about the session. These surveys cover:
- The quality of training materials, delivery, and organization
- Usefulness of activities and examples
- Trainer’s ability to engage participants
This includes asking about the feelings associated with taking the training and how well the employee felt the training went.
Example training feedback questions
- How engaging were the group activities or discussions?
- Were the learning objectives clearly defined and met?
- Was the training pace appropriate for the topic?
- How effective was the instructor at managing conflict?
4. Training effectiveness survey questions
These surveys measure whether the training achieved its intended outcomes and had a lasting impact. A training effectiveness survey should be administered a few weeks or months after completion. This gives participants time to apply the training in their daily work.
This survey will assess changes in participants' knowledge, skills, or behavior over time, the applicability of training to job performance, and the training program's ROI (return on investment).
Example training effectiveness questions
- How have you applied what you learned in your role?
- Have you noticed an improvement in your performance since the training?
- Did the training contribute to achieving your team’s goals?
- How has the training improved your productivity?
6 training feedback surveys best practices
These surveys explore what training to offer, the effectiveness of the training you’re delivering, and whether students feel they are acquiring the skills they desire. Use the following six tips to craft effective feedback questions that ensure actionable insights.
1. Pre-training and post-training skills assessment
Pre-training skills assessments should be run before training sessions. This will establish what your participants already know, their expectations for the training, and any learning needs and preferences. This information can be used to determine how you run the training, information delivery methods, and content.
Pre-training skills assessments should determine participants' prior knowledge, training expectations, and learning preferences. The data from this survey can be used to find learner satisfaction and experience with the training. Our training course evaluation template is a great place to start.
Compare data from pre- and post-training skills assessments to assess learning gains from your training.
2. Ongoing progress toward goals
Poll individuals at the outset of a longer training program to baseline where they are to their goals. Throughout training, ask students to assess their progress. Deliver your survey on mobile devices in the training environment for near real-time feedback or on social media to broadcast their achievements to their network.
3. Trainee satisfaction with course or program
Find out if the training you’re delivering is engaging and effective. Are you meeting the expectations of participants? Are they getting the instruction or information they thought they would? Use this feedback for continuous improvement.
4. Instructor or teacher effectiveness
Two trainers might deliver the same course material quite differently—and that diversity allows you to attract more students. Still, you want to know that all trainers can deliver training. Use surveys to gather students’ opinions of teacher effectiveness.
Get a start on your instructor evaluations with our course evaluation survey template and our University Instructor Evaluation Survey Template. Take a look at our education surveys for other ways to lead assessments.
5. Career training and development
What do students or employees think of your organization’s job training and development programs? Do offerings support their career goals and ambitions? What education programs do they need to meet their objectives?
Find out if your company is providing ample training for employees to learn and grow on the job. Use our career development survey template as a starting point to determine whether you are helping employees reach their full potential.
6. Training needs and opportunities
Could seniors in your community use a hands-on technology course? Are newbie parents interested in parenting classes? Utilize surveys in your community, workplace, or fitness organization to inform classes and training for your residents, employees, patients, or clients.
Test potential offerings using SurveyMonkey Audience, which gives you access to millions of respondents similar to your target audiences.
How to conduct a training survey (5 steps)
Use this step-by-step guide to create and implement training surveys.
1. Define goals
First, you must identify what you want to evaluate. Say you’ve started a new process for employee onboarding training and need to determine how effective your new program is.
Your goals may be to:
- Determine whether the new program is more or less effective than the previous program
- Determine whether the new program has a high enough ROI to validate the cost
Achieving these goals requires crafting the entire survey and delivery process with the result in mind.
2. Select tools
Use online tools like SurveyMonkey or similar platforms. With SurveyMonkey, you have access to various tools that help you retain and nurture top talent, boost employee satisfaction, and implement impactful training programs.
Explore employee and customer satisfaction surveys, learning support surveys, and department support surveys.
3. Craft questions
Tailor your questions to your training objectives. Use the example questions above and the questions referenced in any applicable template to help you design questions.
Be sure to craft effective survey questions that incorporate neutral answer options, ask one thing at a time, and are mostly closed-ended.
4. Distribute surveys
You may share the survey via email, QR codes, or training portals. We recommend preparing participants to receive the survey and reminding them to complete it.
It sometimes helps to include the survey in the training coursework (if possible) or provide incentives for filling out the survey.
5. Analyze results
Now, you can customize employee training with a data-driven training needs assessment. Use responses to refine future training.
7 quick tips to improve survey response rates
Here are a few other suggestions for getting people to complete your surveys.
- Be quick: If your survey is short and sweet, there’s a greater chance more respondents will complete it.
- Offer anonymity: Offer anonymity for honest feedback. Participants are likely to be honest and forthcoming when their identity is protected.
- Provide an option for unstructured feedback: Give people the opportunity to give you additional thoughts and other feedback by choosing from the multiple question types, including some open-ended questions with text boxes for unstructured responses.
- Keep it casual: Don’t use corporate-speak, stuffy, or highly technical language. Keep your tone conversational.
- Vary the question styles: Avoid respondent boredom by offering various question styles. Be sure to include some open-ended questions for personalized answers and unstructured feedback.
- Test the survey: Send your survey to colleagues to test for glitches or questions requiring clarification. Fix any issues before sending the survey to your list of respondents.
- Share results: Share the survey results and anticipated improvements with participants. Allow them to give feedback and feel included in the refinement process.
Training survey templates
The list of potential training topics is endless. SurveyMonkey offers many surveys that can be used or customized to cover many training areas. You might use a few templates with individuals, community residents, students and their parents, and employees.
Training course evaluation
The Training Course Evaluation Template helps you pinpoint what's working and what isn’t and ensures your efforts truly support employee growth and success.
Pre-training survey
Effective training starts with understanding your audience. Pre-training survey questions help assess attendees’ knowledge and expectations, enabling you to create impactful sessions.
New hire training
Reinforce onboarding by giving new hires a simple quiz to assess their understanding and identify areas for improvement. Use this sample quiz to structure your survey and ensure your key messages stick.
Employee onboarding training
Use these templates to create optimized onboarding and training programs that push employee productivity and result in greater business impact.
Mastering training surveys
Asking the right questions with the right templates measures training success. These surveys can improve training outcomes, engage employees, and provide measurable value for organizations.
SurveyMonkey has 150+ survey templates written by experts to help you with your survey needs. See how SurveyMonkey can power your curiosity.
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