This week I noticed that WebJunction is conducting a survey entitled “Technology Competencies Evaluation.” I think this must be a sequel to a survey I saw there last month about “management core competencies.” While the surveys are probably marketing research for WebJunction’s e-learning product line, the researchers say they want to use the data to “establish a baseline for the library field.” Thus, they do profess an interest in identifying larger and, we might conclude, non-commercial trends within the library profession.
Whatever their intentions, the surveys won’t produce much reliable information due to poor designs. First, neither questionnaire actually assesses 
competencies, that is, knowledge or skill levels. Instead, they measure respondents’ opinions about their own knowledge and skills in a dozen or so training topics. So, any baselines WebJunction comes up with will be merely about current opinions which would later be compared to some subsequent set of opinions. [Read more...]
