Compendium of Questionnaires and Inventories. Sarah Cook. Gower, 1999. A4 ringbinder, 214 pages, £95. ISBN 0 566 08088 5

This is a collection of questionnaires, reactionnaires and opinionnaires that can be used in self-development activities or during training events when the training group needs to assess themselves ready for discussion or development of plans to change or modify their attitudes or behaviours.

The value of the book lies in the gathering together of 49 [I wonder why not 50?] instruments of this nature, covering a full range of topics where assessment and self-assessment are frequently required. The instruments are covered in ten categories– coaching/counselling; communication; customer care; leadership skills; organizational awareness; performance management; personal effectiveness; recruitment and selection; teamworking; and training and development. The idea of self-assessment questionnaires is not new and the ones contained in this collection reflect many of the previously produced ones, albeit redesigned in the author’s own style and requirements.

I found some of the instruments not to my particular liking. For example the one on learning styles is based completely on Kolb’s research instrument rather than our own, very practical and acceptable one of Honey and Mumford; the ‘evaluation’ instrument is an opinionnaire or reactionnaire instrument, not evaluation. If you have other sources available, it may be advisable to compare these and select the one that best suits your purposes.

If you have none of the activity collections containing activities including assessment instruments for your requirements, or need to have handily available a collection of such instruments in the range covered, you will find this collection very useful indeed. It can also be useful in suggesting (with practical help) that such instruments might be included in your training.

Leslie Rae
June 1999