A Practical Guide to Needs Assessment, Third Edition For fifteen years, A Practical Guide to Needs Assessment has been the go-to text for those who are seeking useful, systematic approaches to needs assessment. Needs assessment is the first step in training, performance improvement, and community development projects. This thoroughly revised and updated edition contains a treasury of resources including a toolkit of ready-to-use templates and job aids that you can customize for your own use. Illustrative case studies and tips show how to assess needs for individuals, teams, organizations, government agencies, and communities. This book combines a how-to text and reference tool for trainers, performance improvement professionals, and students. Managers and community leaders use it to get to the root of their learning and performance problems, make effective decisions, and obtain support for their most pressing issues. Updates to the third edition include: Links to online resources, including a needs assessment book that you can download for free, ethical guidelines, and vendors who assess individual, group and organizational needs. A new chapter on the complex needs assessment approach with new toolkit forms. A summary of the recent advances in our knowledge about learning, training, and performance that you can use to quickly prepare for client meetings. Guidelines on workforce surveys, such as employee engagement surveys. An Instructor s Guide that contains discussion questions, assessments materials, and new exercises for each chapter. You can use this book to quickly access up-to-date information on the fundamentals of needs assessment including current models, theories, and resources. You can also learn how to manage and report a needs assessment project and access professional ethical guidelines. Learn five approaches to needs assessment: knowledge and skills analysis, job and task analysis, competency-based needs assessment, strategic needs assessment, and complex needs assessment.

A Practical Guide to Needs Assessment, Third EditionFor fifteen years, A Practical Guide to Needs Assessment has been the go-to text for those who are seeking useful, systematic approaches to needs assessment. Needs assessment is the first step in training, performance improvement, and community development projects.This thoroughly revised and updated edition contains a treasury of resources including a toolkit of ready-to-use templates and job aids that you can customize for your own use. Illustrative case studies and tips show how to assess needs for individuals, teams, organizations, government agencies, and communities.This book combines a how-to text and reference tool for trainers, performance improvement professionals, and students. Managers and community leaders use it to get to the root of their learning and performance problems, make effective decisions, and obtain support for their most pressing issues.Updates to the third edition include:* Links to online resources, including a needs assessment book that you can download for free, ethical guidelines, and vendors who assess individual, group and organizational needs.* A new chapter on the complex needs assessment approach with new toolkit forms.* A summary of the recent advances in our knowledge about learning, training, and performance that you can use to quickly prepare for client meetings.* Guidelines on workforce surveys, such as employee engagement surveys.* An Instructor's Guide that contains discussion questions, assessments materials, and new exercises for each chapter.You can use this book to quickly access up-to-date information on the fundamentals of needs assessment including current models, theories, and resources. You can also learn how to manage and report a needs assessment project and access professional ethical guidelines. Learn five approaches to needs assessment: knowledge and skills analysis, job and task analysis, competency-based needs assessment, strategic needs assessment, and complex needs assessment.

List of Figures viList of Needs Assessment Toolkit Forms ixPreface xiAcknowledgments xivIntroduction 1PART ONE: FUNDAMENTALS OF NEEDS ASSESSMENTONE Overview of Needs Assessment 15TWO Ideas and Models Th at Guide Practice 35THREE Strategies for Collecting and Analyzing Data 51PART TWO: GETTING DOWN TO BRASS TACKSFOUR Knowledge and Skills Assessment 89FIVE Job and Task Analysis 117SIX Competency-Based Needs Assessment 145SEVEN Strategic Needs Assessment 173EIGHT Complex Needs Assessment 205PART THREE: MANAGING A NEEDS ASSESSMENTNINE Writing Proposals and Reports 231TEN Dealing with Ethical Issues 257ELEVEN Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 271PART FOUR: NEEDS ASSESSMENT TOOLKITToolkit Forms 291Glossary 367References 379Index 393About the Authors