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Chapter 6: The Assessment of Need

Chapter 6, “The Assessment of Need,” addresses what is typically one of the first steps in a program evaluation, although at times it is even considered a separate endeavor. A working definition of need is provided, distinguishing needs in program evaluation from the common use of the term to mean “wants” or related concepts. The main sources of information about needs and the main approaches to gathering and making use of that information are described. Important challenges leading to problematic assessment of needs are listed, along with strategies for avoiding those problems. The chapter concludes with a case study illustrating how a needs assessment provided vital corrective information to a program that had made some inaccurate assumptions about their clients.

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Online resources for needs assessment

This is an introductory list with examples of online resources relevant for Needs Assessment that illustrate the kinds of sites available. This version was created in May 2018, and it will be updated on at least a year basis. Given the dynamic nature of online materials, be aware that things can change very quickly, so elements that were accurate when this page was updated can become dated at any point, and new, better material can become available at any time. I welcome any corrections or suggestions.

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Agency or Organization

URL

Description

Office of Justice Programs

https://www.bja.gov/programs/crppe/featured-resources.html#data

The “data” section of the site provides links to several other sites that address issues like “searching for Social Science Data on the Net” as well as more than a dozen links to sources of data like the National Center for Education Statistics and other local and international sources. Although the Office of Justice Programs site focuses on criminal justice, the links provide access to vast sources of data. See, for example, the entry below for the U.S. Census Bureau.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

www.ahrq.gov 

Embedded in this extensive site with many elements relevant to Program Evaluation more generally is a page “Data Sources Available From AHRQ” under the general “Data and Analytics” tab that includes a range of sources of information useful to Needs Assessment with regard to healthcare and related points.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - Data

https://www.samhsa.gov/data/

This site provide five forms of data related to Substance Abuse – Population level, Client level, Substance Abuse Facility, Mental Health Facility, and Emergency Room Facility. The site also provides visual displays of the data such as use of various substances in each of the 50 US states.

National Institute of Mental Health

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/index.shtml

This page provides links to current information about the prevalence and treatment of a number of categories of mental illnesses.

Learning Space Toolkit – Needs Assessment

https://learningspacetoolkit.org/needs-assessment/index.html

This site is a service of the North Caroline State University Libraries and Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications. It provides modules on a wide-range of resources including Guiding Principles, the Needs Assessment Process, Data Gathering Tools, Working with Data, general Resources, and Tips for Success. Some modules, such as the Guiding Principles, are brief overviews of the topic, whereas others, such as the Data Gathering Tools, provide a broad set of useful insights into a range of forms of data.

U.S. Census Bureau – Data Tools and Apps

https://www.census.gov/data/data-tools.html

This section of the U.S. Census Bureau web-site provides direct access to various forms of the data as well as to multiple tools for working with the information. For example, the interactive population map provides information such as total population or by categories of race, ethnicity, age, sex, or households ranging from national totals to states, counties, and in steps to census blocks. Other options include direct downloads of some census data.