Needs assessment

A needs assessment is a systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or "gaps" between current conditions and desired conditions or "wants". The discrepancy between the current condition and wanted condition must be measured to appropriately identify the need. The need can be a desire to improve current performance or to correct a deficiency.

A needs assessment is a part of planning processes, often used for improvement in individuals, education/training, organizations, or communities. It can refine and improve a product such as a training or service a client receives. It can be an effective tool to clarify problems and identify appropriate interventions or solutions. By clearly identifying the problem, finite resources can be directed towards developing and implementing a feasible and applicable solution. Gathering appropriate and sufficient data informs the process of developing an effective product that will address the groups needs and wants. Needs assessments are only effective when they are ends-focused and provide concrete evidence that can be used to determine which of the possible means-to-the-ends are most effective and efficient for achieving the desired results.

Needs assessments can help improve the quality of policy or program decisions—thus leading to improvements in performance and the accomplishment of desired results. Improving results—that is, moving from current to desired performance—is typically a worthwhile and valuable effort. The results of a needs assessment will guide subsequent decisions—including the design, implementation, and evaluation of projects and programs that will lead to achieving desired results.

Defining 'need' is an essential starting place for needs assessments. Though the word need is used casually in many context without a definition, in order to assess them a need is often defined as a gap in results where its satisfaction, or partial satisfaction, is necessary for the achievement of another specific socially-permissible result. Each need therefore consist of two related gaps in results, leading to the assessment (size, direction, characteristics, etc.) of each gap as well as the relationship among the gaps. This distinguishes needs assessments from surveys of people 'wants" or favorite solutions.

There are three perspectives on need in a needs assessment; perceived need, expressed need and relative need.

Within a performance improvement framework, needs assessments play a critical role in starting the improvement process (see Figure A). Assessments inform future decisions; at the same time, they are informed by the results of past decisions. Needs assessments thereby link together past and future performance, guiding decisions throughout the improvement effort.

Considered the "father of needs assessment",Roger Kaufman first developed a model for determining needs defined as a gap in results. This particular emphasis in results focuses on the outcomes (or ends) that result from an organization's products, processes, or inputs (the means to the ends). Kaufman argues that an actual need can only be identified independent of premature selection of a solution (wherein processes are defined as means to an end, not an end unto themselves). To conduct a quality needs assessment according to Kaufman, first determine the current results, articulate the desired results, and the distance between results is the actual need. Once a need is identified, then a solution can be selected that is targeted to closing the gap. Kaufman's model in particular identifies gaps in needs at the societal level, what Kaufman calls "Mega" planning, along with gaps at the Macro (or organizational) and Micro level (the level of individuals and small groups). Organizational elements vary among the three different levels: they are outcomes at the Mega level, outputs at the Macro level, and products at the Micro level. A Mega level needs assessment should be conducted if the primary beneficiary of the desired results is society itself (as with the results of a clean environment or continuing profit). If the desired results are not directly societal, but are delivered to society (such as automobiles or college graduates), then a Macro level assessment should be performed. If the desired results are building blocks for larger results (such as a single sale or a passed inspection), then a Micro level needs assessment is appropriate.

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