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 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.
Others definitions of need assessment are:
· A needs assessment can be described as a process for identifying the knowledge and skills necessary for achieving organizational goals (Brinkerhoff & Gill, 1994).
· A needs assessment is a method of finding out the nature and extent of performance problems and how they can be solved (Molenda, Pershing, &Reigeluth, 1996).
· A needs assessment is a process for pinpointing reasons for gaps in performance or a method for identifying new and future performance needs (Gupta, 1999).
· A needs assessment is a systematic approach to identifying social problems, determining their extent, and accurately defining the target population to be served and the nature of their service needs (Rossi, P. H., Freeman, H. E., &Lipsey, Mark, W. L., 1998).
