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Measuring confidence before and after training
Last reviewed: 1 September 2026
A confidence check can show how a responding group describes its confidence at two points. It is useful for reflection and discussion, but it is not direct evidence of competence.
A change in the group average describes the responses collected at those moments. It does not prove that learning occurred or that the training caused the change.
What a confidence check can tell you
Confidence is a participant’s own rating of how confident they feel at a point in time. It can give a trainer a useful starting point for reflection, discussion or deciding whether a topic needs more attention.
Self-reported confidence is not the same as knowledge or skill. Someone can feel confident and still misunderstand a topic, or feel uncertain while performing it correctly.
When to ask
- Before training, to establish how the group describes its starting confidence.
- After an important section, while there is still time to explain or practise.
- At the end, to support reflection on the session.
- Before deciding whether a topic needs more explanation, discussion or practice.
Confidence Meter or Before & After?
Confidence Meter is a single question using a fixed 1 to 5 confidence scale. PollSpark shows the average to one decimal place and the spread of responses. Use it when you need a point-in-time view of confidence. Confidence Meter works in Live and Survey, depending on your plan.
Before & After has two presenter-controlled phases in one Live session. You can use a 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 scale, and PollSpark compares the group average from each phase. Before & After does not work in Survey.
The comparison is group-level. PollSpark does not match one person’s Before response with their After response, and someone can answer in After without having answered in Before.
How PollSpark calculates the change
PollSpark calculates the mean for all valid Before responses and the mean for all valid After responses. It subtracts the Before mean from the After mean to show the point change. If the two means are equal, it shows 0.0 and No change.
PollSpark also expresses the point change as a percentage of the usable scale range. A five-point scale has four intervals from 1 to 5, so a one-point rise is 25% of the scale range. A ten-point scale has nine intervals, so a one-point rise is 11.1% of the scale range.
This percentage is not the percentage increase in each participant’s confidence, the percentage of participants who improved or a measure of training impact.
What the result does not prove
- It does not prove that the training caused the change.
- It does not measure objective competence, knowledge or individual learning gain.
- It is not a matched comparison of the same participants.
- It does not represent people who did not respond.
- PollSpark does not test statistical significance or provide a validated or psychometric assessment.
How to interpret a change
Look at the direction and size of the change, then check how many people answered in each phase. Consider who responded, whether the same group was present and whether the question labels were clear.
Use the result alongside discussion, observation, a knowledge check or other evidence where appropriate. One confidence number should not become the whole evaluation.
A simple training workflow
- Ask the confidence question before the relevant training begins.
- Deliver the section, activity or practice.
- Switch to the After phase and ask the group to respond again.
- Show and discuss the group-level comparison.
- Use the result and the discussion to decide whether to revisit the topic.
When another question type is more useful
- Use Multiple Choice for a focused knowledge question with prepared answers.
- Use Open Text when participants need to explain what remains unclear in their own words.
- Use Likert Scale for several statements that share the same five response labels.
- Use Rating Scale for a general score using a 3, 5, 7 or 10-point scale.
Using PollSpark for a confidence check
Use Confidence Meter when you need one confidence reading. Use Before & After when the presenter will run both phases during the same Live session and a group-level comparison is useful.