Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments: A Practical Guide

"The central decision for [all organizations] is, "What is the best way to portion out available resources, including time, money, and organizational efforts, to meet all the demands--the needs--that compete for them? Such decisions may be based on intuition, political pressures, past practices, or personal preferences...But the most effective way to decide such issues is to make needs assessment the first stage in planning."

So begins this guide book on needs assessments. The authors provide a framework for systematically investigating critical or unmet needs or problems, agreeing on needs-based priorities, understanding probable causes of those needs, and using the information to develop quality programs.

Citation: Witkin, B.R., & Altschuld, J.W. (1995). Planning and conducting needs assessments: A practical guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.