Needs assessment

Systematic process for determining needs

A needs assessment is a systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or "gaps", between current conditions, and desired conditions, or "wants".^[1]

Needs assessments can help improve policy or program decisions, individuals, education, training, organizations, communities, or products.^[2]

There are three types of need in a needs assessment: perceived need, expressed need and relative need.

1. Perceived needs are defined by what people think about their needs; each standard changes with each respondent.
2. Expressed needs are defined by the number of people who have sought help and focuses on circumstances where feelings are translated into action. A major weakness of expressed needs assumes that all people with needs seek help.
3. Relative needs are concerned with equity and must consider differences in population and social pathology.^[3]

History

Considered the "father of needs assessment", Roger Kaufman developed a model for determining needs defined as a gap in results.^[4] Kaufman argued that an actual need can only be identified independent of a proposed solution. According to Kaufman, to conduct a good-quality needs assessment, determine the current results and articulate the desired results; the distance between results is the actual need. Once a need is identified, then a solution can be selected.^[5][6][7]

Extensive vs. intensive

Extensive research uses a large number of cases to determine the characteristics of a population, while intensive research examines one or a few cases in depth.^[8]

Once the group has identified needs, they then generally turn to intensive needs assessment in order to rank the needs. This part of the research is concerned with examining the depth of the need, and potentially required resources.

Needs chain model

A needs chain model is a framework that allows organizations to simultaneously consider the individuals' needs within an organization, and the organization's needs, in order to prioritise resources and identify areas of improvement for the organization.^[9]

A needs chain model is composed of aligned horizontal and vertical processes. The horizontal needs are:

• Performance need: A level of performance required for satisfactory functioning.
• Instrumental need: An intervention, product, or substance that is required to obtain satisfactory functioning.
• Conscious need: Needs that are known to those who have them.
• Unconscious need: Needs that is unknown to those who have them.^[10]

Also, it has four vertical factors:

• Organizational need: Needs that pertain to behavior or tangible outcomes, such as market share or sales target.^[9]
• Individual needs: Needs that pertain to the individual's attitudes about the organization or themselves, such as job satisfaction.^[9]
• Causes
• Level of objectivity for all needs: This level requires all needs to have a certain level of objectivity, and to be based on deep investigation or further analysis.^[11]

Training needs assessment

Training needs assessment is an inquiry of training needs within an organization.^[12]

There are three levels of training needs assessment:

• Organizational assessments evaluate the level of organizational performance. An assessment of this type will determine the knowledge, skills, ability, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that are needed within the organization.

• Occupational assessments examine the KSAOs required for affected occupational groups.

• Individual assessments analyze how well an individual employee is doing a job and determines the individual's capacity to do different work. An individual assessment provides information on which employees need training and what kind.^[12]

Community

A community needs assessment^[13] can be broadly categorized into three types based on their respective starting points. First, needs assessments which aim to discover weaknesses within the community and create a solution. Second, needs assessments which are structured around, and seek to address a problem facing the community. Third, needs assessments of an organization which serves the community (domestic violence centers, community health clinics, etc.).

Consumer leadership assessment is an assessment of the frequency with which community members use or are likely to use an existing or planned service.^[14]

Example

Burke (2005) examined statistics that showed a need within the community of Bayview Hunters Point in order to "identify gaps in service delivery system to create a road map for improving neighborhood conditions by rationalizing the allocation of city dollars to social service programs".^[15]

See also

• Environmental impact assessment
• Futures techniques
• Requirements analysis

References

Citations

1. Kizlik, Bob. "Needs Assessment Information (Wants determine needs)". ADPRIMA. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
2. Watkins, West Meiers & Visser 2012, p. 5.
3. Bradshaw, J. (1972). "The concept of social need". New Society. Vol. 30. pp. 640–643. ISSN 0028-6729. • Kettner, P.M.; Moroney, R.M.; Martin, L.L. (2008). Designing and managing programs: An effectiveness-based approach. Los Angeles: Sage. ISBN 9780761915492.
    • Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row.
    • Ponsioen, J. (1962). Social welfare policy: Contributions to theory. The Hague, the Netherlands: Mouton.
    • Wallace, H.; Gold, E.; Dooley, S. (1967). "Availability and usefulness of selected health and socioeconomic data for community planning". American Journal of Public Health. 57 (5): 762–771. doi:10.2105/ajph.57.5.762. PMC 1227354. PMID 6067201.
4. Fulgham & Shaughnessy 2008.
5. Witkin, B. R. (1994). Needs Assessment Since 1981: The State of the Practice. Evaluation Practice, 15 (1), 17–27.
6. Kaufman, Rojas & Mayer 1993, p. 8.
7. Kaufman, Rojas & Mayer 1993, p. 12.
8. Stoecker, Randy (2005). Research Methods for Community Change. Thousand Oaks: Sage. ISBN 9780761928898.
9. Shafloot, Fayez. "Needs Chain Model, presented in AEA 2010, San Antonio". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
    • Shafloot, Fayez (November 2010). Needs Chain Model. AEA 2010, San Antonio. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
10. Davidson, EJ (2005). Evaluation methodology basics: the nuts and bolts of sound evaluation. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
11. Sip Jan Pijil; Hillie Veneman (2005). "Evaluating New Criteria and Procedures for Funding Special Needs Education in the Netherlands". Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 33 (1): 93–108. doi:10.1177/1741143205048176. S2CID 154075736.
12. "Training Needs Assessment". U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
13. Center for Urban Research & Learning. "A Community Needs Assessment Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
14. National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center (2005). "Community Needs Assessment" (PDF). Mental Health America of South Carolina.
15. Burke 2005, p. 7.

Bibliography

• Kaufman, Roger; Rojas, Alicia M.; Mayer, Hannah (1993). Needs Assessment: A User's Guide. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications.
• Peterson, Donna J.; Alexander, Greg R. (2001). Needs Assessment in Public Health: A Practical Guide for Students and Professionals. Hingham, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Environmental Law Institute (1999). Building Capacity to Participate in Environmental Protection Agency Activities: A Needs Assessment and Analysis. Washington, DC: Environmental Law Institute.
• Fulgham, S. M.; Shaughnessy, M. (September–October 2008). "Q & A with Ed Tech Leaders: Interview with Roger Kaufman". Educational Technology. pp. 49–52.
• Watkins, R.; West Meiers, M.; Visser, Y. (2012). A Guide to Assessing Needs: Tools for collecting information, making decisions, and achieving development results. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-0-8213-8868-6. ISBN 978-0-8213-8868-6.
• Sharma, A.; Lanum, M.; Saurez-Balcazar, Y. (2000). A community needs assessment guide: a brief guide on how to conduct a needs assessment. Chicago: Loyola University.
• Rossi, P.H.; Lipsey, M.W.; Freeman, H.E. (2004). Evaluation: a systematic approach (7th ed.). London: Sage. ISBN 9780761908944.
• Gupta, Kavita; Sleezer, Catherine M.; Russ-Eft, Darlene F. (2007). A Practical Guide to Needs Assessment (2 ed.). Pfeiffer. pp. 14–17. ISBN 978-0-7879-8272-0.
• Burke, Garance (2005). Bridging the Gaps: Toward an Efficient Social Service Delivery in Bayview Hunters Point. UC Berkeley: GSPP.

Further reading

• Altschuld, J. W. (2010). The Needs Assessment KIT. (ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. [5 volume series].
• Burton, J. & Merrill, P. (1991). Needs assessment: Goals, need and priorities. In L. J. Briggs, K.L. Gustafson, and M.H. Tillman (Eds.), Instructional design: Principles and applications (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology.
• Gilbert, T. (1978). Human competence: Engineering worthy performance. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Gordon, S. (1994). Systematic training program design: Maximizing effectiveness and minimizing liability. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Hannum, W. & Hansen, C. (1989). Instructional systems development in large organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology.
• Kaufman, R. (1972). Educational system planning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Kaufman, R. (1992). Strategic planning plus: An organizational guide (Rev. ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Mager, R. F. & Pipe, P. (1997), Analyzing performance problems (3rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: Center for Effective Performance.
• Murk, P.J. & Wells, J.H. (1998). A practical guide to program planning. Training & Development Journal, 42(10), 45–47.
• Nelson, R., Whitener, E., & Philcox, H. (1995). The assessment of end-user training needs. Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, 38(7) 27–39.
• Ostroff., C & Ford, J.K. (1989). Assessing training needs: Critical levels of analysis. In I.L. Goldstein (Ed.), Training and development in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Robinson, D.G. & Robinson, J.C. (1995). Performance consulting: Moving beyond training. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
• Rossett, Allison (1987). Training Needs Assessment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
• Rothwell, W.J. & Kazanas, H.C. (1992). Mastering the instructional design process: A systematic approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Rummler, G.A. & Brache, A.P. (1990). Improving performance: How to manage the white space on the organization chart. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Witkin, B.R. & Altschuld, J.W. (1995). Planning and conducting needs assessments: A practical guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.