—V. DETERMINING COST AND TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS TRADEOFFS FOR TRAINER DESIGN: TEST OF AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL

This paper reports the status of an ongoing project to develop a macro model describing the decisions involved in developing training equipment. The purpose of the model is to assist managers in making such decisions by pro-viding information concerning the tradeoffs between the cost and effectiveness of training provided by different configurations and choices of equipment. The goals of the current phase of the study were to determine the feasibility of collecting data to empirically test the model and turn it into a practical tool to be used in making decisions relating to trainer design and develop-ment, and to perform a preliminary test of the model. Results of the field data collection led to the conclusion that the data necessary to test the model can be obtained. However, such measures need to be refined before the model can be turned into a practical tool. The prelim-inary test of the model performed in this study resulted in no major modifica-tions of the model. PURPOSE This paper reports the status of an ongoing project to develop a practical model to assist managers in making decisions concerning training equipment. The model is designed to permit comparisons of the cost and effectiveness of alternative configurations of training equipment. The model will allow managers to make cost/benefit tradeoffs between the various characteristics that may be utilized in training equipment, and give both the military and industry guidelines to justify decisions relating to trainer design. The purpose of the current phase of the study was two-fold: (1) To determine the feasibility of data collection for empirical validation of the model, and (2) To perform a preliminary test of the model. In their ing and Traini Science Board must be give during the des tary training was based on training is es operational r evaluation o