Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

 

Why would we want to conduct a needs assessment?

When should we conduct a needs assessment?

If we have already started our program or project, is it too late to do a needs assessment?

Doesn’t it take too long to complete a needs assessment?

Don’t we already know what to do and what results we should achieve?

How does a needs assessment relate to evaluation?

How does a needs assessment relate to our results framework (or results chain)?

 

Why would we want to conduct a needs assessment?

A needs assessment, by defining and prioritizing gaps between the results you are currently achieving and those that you want to accomplish, can provide guidance for making complex decisions. The results of a needs assessment can help clarify where you are going and what it is going to take to get there. From what capacity building activities should go into a World Bank program to defining a learning plan for the next year, use a needs assessment to ensure that your decisions will lead the accomplishment of useful results.

When should we conduct a needs assessment?

Conduct a needs assessment whenever a complex decision has to be made. When your decisions involve significant resources (e.g., time, money, opportunity costs, materials, long-term consequences) then a more formal needs assessments is typically required to inform and justify your decisions. However, even for decisions that do involve significant resources you should use less-formal needs assessment procedures to improve the quality of your decisions through systematic processes.

If we have already started our program or project, is it too late to do a needs assessment?

No, you can begin to use needs assessments to inform your decision-making at any point in the life-cycle of a program or project. Many individuals and organization use routine (e.g., annual or bi-annual) needs assessments to assess their progress in accomplishing performance objectives and to re-prioritize their "needs" based on current data and information. By integrating needs assessment processes with evaluation techniques you can improve the quality of your decisions at any point in your program or project.

Doesn’t it take too long to complete a needs assessment?

A needs assessment should be designed to fit the scope of the decisions that have to be made based on its findings. As a consequence, some decisions only require a brief period of time to complete a useful needs assessment that will provide essential information for making complex decisions. At other times you may have to use a longer and more formal needs assessment to adequately provide the information required to make valuable and justifiable decisions.

Don’t we already know what to do and what results we should achieve?

Peter Drucker once said, “Management by objective works - if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't.“ Unfortunately this holds true in most organizations today; we rarely have clear objectives that tell us both where we should be headed and how we will know it when we have arrived. A needs assessment can assist you in systematically identifying, defining, and measuring both the performance objectives to be accomplished as well as what steps should be taken in order to achieve those results.

How does a needs assessment relate to evaluation?

Both needs assessments and evaluations help us by providing systematic processes for collecting information that will be useful in our decision-making. Similarly, both needs assessments and evalautions also use analogous data collection tools and techniques. The central focus on "needs" (i.e., gaps between current results and desired results) does, however, differentiate most needs assessments from evaluations. While evaluations generally collect data regarding the current achievements of a program or project in order to inform decisions about what to do next, a quality needs assessment will focus equally on defining both desired performance objectives and the discrepencies that exist between current achievements and those desired accomplishments.

How does a needs assessment relate to our results framework (or results chain)?

A results framework is an excellent tool for aligning the structure, processes, activities, resources, and other elements of any program or project with the achievement of useful results. These frameworks can then clearly communicate the "logical" linkages between what results are to be accomplished in the long-term and short-term with the selected activities of the program or project. Ideally, the relationships between results and activities can then be verified and justified in order to better ensure the success of any effort. This valuable framework, likewise, provides a roadmap for a needs assessment. If a thorough results framework has been developed to inform decisions within your program or project then this will be an essential tool for structuring your needs assessment. If, however, your program or project was not developed around a results framework then you will want to generate one to inform both your needs assessment as well as other decision-making.