Analysis in learning design

The first step to create learning that is relevant and useful is to understand and empathise with the learners. What is their problem? What is expected of them? Who are they? What do they need? To answer these questions, we need to collect facts and information by conducting different types of analysis. Some of the most common types of analysis include: performance analysis, work analysis, target audience analysis and context analysis.

Performance analysis

We all know that! Before determining a course of action to address a performance problem or challenge we first need to understand the problem. That means we should steer our focus and our client’s focus away from the course and toward the performance problem. This involves talking with the client, subject matter experts as well as potential learners to gain a deep understanding of their experiences, challenges, concerns and motivations. Making assumptions about other people’s problems and translating them into a training solution WE think is effective is definitely misleading. Instead we should observe, engage and empathise with people involved to collect relevant information before making a design decision. One way to do that is to meet with the client and find out:

  • what the client is trying to achieve with the project
  • what specific problems they’re hoping to solve
  • the root cause of the problem: We can use the 5 whys analysis method to get an in-depth understanding of what’s actually happening, rather than what the client thinks might be happening. The 5 Whys technique is a powerful tool to help us understand why people aren’t doing what they’re expected to do, so we can solve the problem effectively.

Work analysis

We should also talk with the potential learners and subject matter experts to understand their concerns, motivations, the work they are expected to do and identify the specific areas in a job where performance is deficient. Our goal should be to find out:

  • what they have to do on a day to day basis to reach the business goal
  • their common challenges and concerns: We can ask them to give specific examples—this will help us create realistic and engaging scenarios later down the line if needed. STAR method is a great technique to structure the questions to gather all the relevant information. STAR stands for:
    • Situation: What was the context? Who was involved?
    • Task: What was their responsibility in that situation?
      Action: What steps did they take to address it?
      Result: What happened? How did the event end? What outcomes did their actions achieve?
  • what makes it hard for them to do what they need to do.

Rothwell & Kazanas (2011) suggest three main approaches to conducting a work analysis to collect unique and relevant information about the work responsibilities in a particular work setting:

  • job analysis: the purpose of a job analysis is to determine the responsibilities, activities, and prerequisite skills associated with a particular job. More specifically, a job analysis is conducted to:
    •  
    • “determine the environmental conditions and resources that help or hinder performance of the job
    • match applicant skills, knowledge, and experience with jobs
    • set performance standards
    • determine appropriate compensation levels for a job
    • determine future human resource requirements and/or training needs” (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2011).
  • task analysis: The purpose of task analysis is to determine how a particular task should be performed successfully. A task analysis is conducted to:
    • determine the components of competent performance
    • identify activities that have the potential to improve
    • identify the exact skills, knowledge and attitude required to successfully complete a specific task
    • clarify equipment and resources necessary for a worker to perform the job 
competently
    • establish minimum performance standards to complete a specific task. (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2011).
  • content analysis: Gibbons (1977, cited in Rothwell & Kazanas, 2011) defined content analysis as “the process of breaking the large bodies of subject matter into smaller and instructionally useful units”. Content analysis is “a process of identifying the essential information that learners should translate into work-related knowledge, skills and attitudes through planned instructional experiences” (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2011). So as learning designers we have an important role in organising and designing meaningful experiences and relevant challenges that will engage people and help them translate information into work-related scenarios. The results from a job and/or task analysis can guide the selection and sequence of content best suited for responding to a particular performance need. Content analysis helps identify the essential information to reach the goal and eliminate the extraneous material.

Target population analysis

Who are the intended learners? What do they like? What motivates them? What frustrates them? What are their concerns/ challenges? How old are they? Are they technology savvy?

We need to have the answer to these and other questions about the potential learners and steer clear of making assumptions and stereotypes. Collecting information about the target audience and creating a few personas to represent them helps deliver relevant and useful content. Different ways to build personas include: interviews, focus groups, surveys and questionnaires.

Here are a few resources to help create marketing personas that I believe we can use in learning and development. They’re very helpful when it comes to making learning design decisions and crafting content that resonate with the target audience:

Context analysis

Transfer of knowledge/ skills happens when the context of retrieving information is similar to the context of encoding it. Conducting learning and perfromance context analysis help us examine all factors that influence people’s performance and will inform design decisions. There are many different factors to consider including:

  • physical environment
  • mental/ emotional state
  • organisational culture and managerial support
  • social relationship.

I would love to hear your thoughts about the types of analysis you use, the best practices as well as the challenges when conducting different forms of analysis.

Sources

Rothwell, W. J., & Kazanas, H. C. (2011). Mastering the instructional design process: A systematic approach. John Wiley & Sons.

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