Needs Assessment

Introduction

Needs assessment can be broadly defined as a systematic set of procedures to identify needs, prioritize them and make decisions concerning programme improvement based on these needs (Witkin & Altschuld, 2000). There are many different approaches to need definitions; for example, Bradshaw (1972) proposed a taxonomy of four types of social needs – normative, felt, expressed, or comparative needs – whereas McKillip (1987) suggested that need was a ‘value judgement that some group has a problem that can be solved’ (p. 10). A need is generally considered to be a discrepancy between a desired state of affairs and the present state of affairs in regard to a group and a situation of interest (Kaufman, 1988). Needs assessment seeks to determine and analyse such discrepancies and to set priorities for future action.

Sometimes it is difficult to see the distinction between needs assessment and other forms of programme planning. In general, needs assessment is done prior to programme planning and focuses on the ends to be achieved, rather than the means, although needs assessment data can form the basis for selecting the means (Anguera & Chacon, in press).

In this context, the first major problem is to conceptualize needs in order to be able to operationalize them. Social problems have to be translated into needs, which have both quantitative and qualitative domains. Determining the qualitative domain of a social problem involves labelling the situation in relation to theoretical constructs. To determine the quantitative domain, one must identify similarities between persons and groups that experience the same problems in order to categorize them and plan possible interventions to solve those problems (Kettner, Moroney & Martin, 1990). If standards of need are assumed to be relative, there must be a base group to serve as a standard against which to evaluate levels of needs. In needs assessment, the comparison group is most appropriately the community of which the target population is a part. So, we have to identify and study our real affected population, and not necessarily accept population statements about ‘wants’ as ‘needs’, as their wants can be different from our designed standards of need.

Needs Assessment Phases

Needs assessment can be considered as applied social research. It entails a systematic process of conceptualizing a research design, and gathering and analysing data according to accepted standards of social science, and its results are used to inform policy and programme development. Following this logic, Witkin and Altschuld (2000) present a comprehensive process of needs assessment which considers three [Page 616]sequential phases, each concluding with a written product:

Methods for Conducting Needs Assessment

Having considered needs assessment as applied social research, we can see that the range of methods used in needs assessment is potentially the same as that available to all applied social researchers. There is no standard method for conducting needs assessment; in fact, we strongly endorse using two or more methods of gathering data on which to base the assessment. At this point it is important to state that data-gathering methods by themselves are not a needs assessment. Needs assessment is a total decision-making process, in which data are but one component. Needs assessment is not a ‘top-down’ activity, in which a few people decide the needs to be addressed. On the contrary, it implies a democratic involvement of different stakeholders. Furthermore, the active involvement of different groups of stakeholders not only ensures that information takes into account different perspectives but also increases the likelihood that the results of the needs assessment will be used in appropriate programmes.

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