ATD's Handbook for Measuring and Evaluating Training

Patricia Pulliam Phillips

• Publisher: Association for Talent Development
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781960231246
• eBook ISBN: 9781960231253
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Get the A-to-Z Resource on Training Evaluation

Fully revised and updated, ATD's Handbook for Measuring and Evaluating Training is the comprehensive go-to reference for talent development professionals in need of immediate measurement and evaluation (M&E) guidance. Edited by M&E powerhouse Patti Phillips, with contributions from 30 expert practitioners, this handbook provides an essential roadmap to developing effective processes to prove the value and impact of your learning and development programs.

Training measurement and evaluation is one of the top frustrations of a talent development professional's job. At first glance, it appears to be a drain on precious time and resources, yet it is a critical function for understanding the results and proving the value of L&D programs. If not conducted properly, it can yield questionable results, lack of accountability, and stakeholder skepticism. All to say, TD professionals must have a solid foundation in measurement and evaluation to do their jobs effectively.

With this handbook, you'll feel confident each time you face an M&E challenge, from planning the evaluation and collecting and analyzing data to optimizing results and making evaluation efforts work in your organization. You will use the data to improve your training programs and meet the standards your organization strives for.

The updated edition includes new chapters on how to tell the evaluation story to business leaders, visualize data in reports, and leverage artificial intelligence smartly as well as refreshed chapters on all the M&E fundamentals. Rich in real-life application, it offers practitioner tips, knowledge checks, and support resources and references. Your advisors along the way are an impressive array of experts from the field, each chosen for their knowledge, experience, and actual results in specific areas.

Whether you're a trainer, manager, professor, or student of training evaluation, this handbook has been designed to meet your needs.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part 1. Evaluation Planning
• 1 Aligning Training to the Needs of the Business
• 2 Analyzing Performance Gaps
• 3 Developing Powerful Program Objectives
• 4 Planning Your Evaluation Project
• Part 2. Data Collection
• 5 Designing Learner Surveys
• 6 Designing Questionnaires and Surveys for Follow-Up Evaluation
• 7 Designing and Delivering Tests
• 8 Conducting Interviews
• 9 Conducting Focus Groups
• 10 Using Action Planning as a Measurement and Transfer Strategy
• Part 3. Data Analysis
• 11 Using Statistics in Evaluation
• 12 Analyzing Qualitative Data
• 13 Isolating the Effects of the Program
• 14 Converting Measures to Monetary Value
• 15 Identifying Program Costs
• 16 Calculating the Return on Investment
• 17 Measuring Intangible Benefits
• 18 Forecasting ROI
• Part 4. Results Optimization
• 19 Telling the Story
• 20 Visualizing Data
• 21 Implementing the ISO Standards for L&D Metrics
• 22 Using Black Box Thinking to Optimize Training Outcomes
• 23 Using Financial Analysis to Compare OJT and S-OJT
• Part 5. Make Measurement and Evaluation Work
• 24 Implementing a Sustainable Measurement Practice
• 25 Getting Stakeholder Buy-In for Measurement and Evaluation
• 26 Developing and Using Professional Standards for Evaluation
• 27 Leveraging Artificial Intelligence
• 28 Building a Measurement and Evaluation Strategy: A Real-Life Example at ASML
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix A. Evaluation Planning Workbook
• Appendix B. Answers to Knowledge Checks
• References
• Additional Resources
• About the Contributors
• Index
• About the Editor
• About ATD
• Back Cover