Research on Human Relations Training: Design and Interpretation

Abstract

The measurement of processes of learning and the evaluation of the outcomes of the teaching-learning process have always posed major problems in research design. This is especially true where the desired outcomes are broadly defined as changes in interpersonal behavior: a complex of knowledge, values, perceptions, and behavioral skills. One purpose of this paper is to provide investigators with a review of the methodological problems involved in planning and conducting such studies. Unlike much research in the behavioral sciences which is primarily intelligible and of interest only to other researchers, research on human relations training is frequently written for and read by administrators and practitioners who may base action decisions on the findings. Their need is for guidelines which will aid them in evaluating the soundness of research reports and their applicability to practical decisions on the planning and conduct of training. This paper is equally addressed, then, to the creators and consumers of research on human relations training. The examples and references in this paper will be drawn from the literature on "sensitivity training," or human relations training, by laboratory methods. These problems, however, are general to research on human relations training, not specific to sensitivity training as a special method. The discussion should be of utility to those who conduct or interpret research on any of the various techniques of human relations education.