The Use of Quantitative Data to Improve Exercise Programs

Domestic Preparedness Journal has written an article discussing how organizations with exercise programs can approach the use of quantitative measurement to gauge program effectiveness, with FEMA’s Participant Feedback Form as an example.

Exercise evaluation attempts the difficult task of numerically measuring the impact of workshops, drills, tabletops, and other types of exercises, yet it is important to help establish if the most important goal of the exercise – improving organizational preparedness and participants’ behaviors – was achieved. Because of this, an exercise should have objective and goal-based criteria that are easy to measure when creating questions for participants to answer. Consistency is also important to compare different exercises across time. The article does caution against organizations fully relying on quantitative assessments, however, instead promoting a hybrid mix where targeted qualitative data gathering is used to help make sense of the quantitative aggregate. Read more at Domestic Preparedness Journal.