Instructional Design Project Success Indicators: An Empirical Basis

The success of instructional design and development (ID) projects is typically evaluated using an evaluation framework, the most popular being Kirkpatrick's (1967) four levels of evaluation. In spite of their widespread use, there does not appear to be an empirical basis for these frameworks. Do the popular evaluation frameworks encompass the major indicators of successful ID projects? Are the success indicators the same for all the various stakeholders involved in ID projects? The purpose of this study was: 1) to establish empirically a set of ID project success indicators, and 2) to determine if stakeholder perspective influences the importance attached to those indicators. Seven ID project success indicators were identified, suggesting that the common evaluation models are incomplete. A two-way ANOVA revealed no significant differences among the stakeholder groups in terms of the importance they attached to the success indicators overall. However, a significant difference was found among the success indicators in terms of their importance to ID project success. Also, there was a significant interaction between certain stakeholder groups and certain ID project success indicators. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.