When do you conduct a Needs Assessment?

A Needs Assessment takes place before the activity is designed.

Why do you conduct a Needs Assessment?

The purpose of a Needs Assessment is to make decisions regarding priorities for the program.

Needs assessment
A Needs Assessment is a systematic exploration of the way things are and the way they should be. These "things" are usually associated with organizational and/or individual performance. A needs assessment is a way of determining the current state of an organization before developing solutions or programming. Needs assessment is conducted to obtain baseline data on the service needs of a particular population can save an organization money and time.

When organizations decide to save time by skipping this important task, money and human resources can be wasted on implementing solutions that did not hit the targeted population where it could be of the most benefit. A needs assessment can be proactive or reactive. For example, if yield or retention numbers are decreasing, a needs assessment could be used to determine the cause or possible solutions. On the other hand, a needs assessment can be conducted before there are any negative indicators or identified problems simply to identify future programming needs.

Needs assessment involves:

Organizational Analysis involves determining:
the appropriateness of training, given the business strategy resources available for training support by managers and peers for training

Task Analysis involves:

identifying the important tasks and knowledge, skill, and behaviors that need to be emphasized in training for employees to complete their tasks

Needs assessment involves:

Person Analysis involves:
determining whether performance deficiencies result from a lack of knowledge, skill, or ability (a training issue) or from a motivational or work design problem identifying who needs training determining employees readiness for training

So what is a Needs Assessment?

Pre-Assessment

Assessment

Needs Assessment

Action Plan

Phases of a Needs Assessment

Pre-Assessment
Data collection. What do we know?
This is the foundation of Gap Analysis
What is the current state? Where should we be? How does our region compare to others? Whats new? Whats important?

Phases of a Needs Assessment

Assessment
Evaluation of the data What are our barriers?
Both internal and external What Needs have we identified? Are some gaps bigger than others?
Consider both scope and severity

What are our priorities? Do we have the resources to address them? Why do anything at all?

Phases of a Needs Assessment

Action Plan
How are we going to translate what we have into what they need?
Which Needs can we address? How are we overcoming barriers?
List additional barriers hindering progress

Have any areas been identified for follow-up or future opportunities for educational intervention?

There are well-defined steps to take to design an effective needs assessment.

Determine the purpose of the needs assessment. What are the objectives for conducting the assessment? Identify the necessary resources. What resources are currently available for conducting this assessment? Is there assistance with survey development and implementation at your institution? Do you have/need help with the distribution, collection, and analysis of the assessment?

 Decide who will be responsible for designing, implementing and analyzing the assessment. Determine what research questions must be included in the assessment. Decide on the methodologies for distributing, collecting and analyzing the assessment. Establish a workable timeline for accomplishing each task

Needs Assessment Techniques

Observation

Questionnaires

Interviews

Focus Groups

Documentation

Advantages and Disadvantages of Needs Assessment Techniques

Technique Observation Advantages Generates data relevant to work environment Minimizes interruption of work Inexpensive Can collect data from a large number of persons Data easily summarized Disadvantages Needs skilled observer Employees behavior may be affected by being observed Requires time Possible low return rates, inappropriate responses Lacks detail Only provides information directly related to questions asked

Questionnaires

Advantages and Disadvantages of Needs Assessment Techniques

Technique Interviews Advantages Good at uncovering details of training needs Good at uncovering causes and solutions of problems Can explore unanticipated issues that come up Questions can be modified Useful with complex or controversial issues that one person may be unable or unwilling to explore Questions can be modified to explore unanticipated issues Disadvantages Time consuming Difficult to analyze Needs skilled interviewer Can be threatening to SMEs Difficult to schedule SMEs only provide information they think you want to hear Time consuming to organize Group members provide information they think you want to hear Status or position differences may limit participation

Focus Groups

Advantages and Disadvantages of Needs Assessment Techniques

Technique Documentation (Technical Manuals and Records) Advantages Disadvantages Good source of information You may not be able to on procedure understand technical language Objective Materials may be obsolete Good source of task information for new jobs and jobs in the process of being created

Remember
Want and Need are not synonyms. A Needs Assessment is conducted before the activity is planned. Pre-Assessment is not enough. The more types of need you consider, the richer the planning process and the more effective the education. What gets measured gets managed Peter Drucker.