Needs Assessment Pointers

By Marilyn Wolf Schwartz
Naval Medical Center San Diego Libraries

Conducting Needs Assessments: A Practical Approach taught by P. Zoe Stavri, Ph.D. was a fast-paced afternoon class at MLA, Orlando, 2001. As Dr. Stavri cautioned, whole courses are offered on needs assessments, and only highlights can be covered in four hours. Here are some of the words of wisdom Dr. Stavri shared and some of my lessons learned.

People do not always know what they want because they may not know what technology is available to help with their work. Sometimes, we can only measure probable needs. A case in point is the introduction of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's). People may not have realized how beneficial PDA's could be when they first came out.

Dr. Stavri emphasized the importance of having top administration's support to make changes. A Needs assessment is a decision-making tool with the following rationale:

Assist organizations in planning programs
Assist organizations in allocating resources
Provide valid and reliable information to better target services
Prioritize efforts
Help to target and market to underserved populations

A needs assessment is a "snapshot" of where the organization is versus where it wants to go. The assessment must have value, and the designer must have in mind what resources can be used to make changes once the data is collected.

Design factors important in developing needs assessments are:

WHY? One reason may be that you want to justify increasing the budget.
FOR WHOM? A higher authority person or group may mandate the assessment.
WHEN? Is the survey time sensitive because of technology or budget?
TARGET POPULATION? The groups are primary (doctors, nurses), secondary (students) and tertiary (secretaries or assistants sent by doctors or nurses)
WHAT TO ASSESS? Content? Knowledge? Service?
Assessing content could mean evaluating a journal collection; assessing knowledge could mean designing a class; and assessing service could mean look at 24-hour access. A guiding force in these assessments is to have the prospect of making improvements. Keep the purpose in mind and understand limits to making changes.

The three steps in the planning process are:

Pre-assessment: Look at the strategic plan, appoint a committee with a leader and determine the level of existing data. This existing data may be taken from previous needs assessments and look at what information is outdated and what data may be re-used. For example, our last survey asked users if they wanted the Library to copy articles for them. That was a stupid question, but we started the service and will not ask that question again. Existing data could be demographic information from the institutional or community setting.
Assessment. In planning the assessment, limit the scope of necessary data to be collected. Establish availability of resources such as time, personnel and funds. Decide which methodological approach to use whether it is surveys, interviews, focus groups or electronic discussion groups. Try to remain neutral about the outcome.
Post-assessment requires evaluation of needs after collecting information, analysis of data and placing priorities on new services. Then, evaluate impact of any additions or changes to current situation. And finally, figure out solution strategies keeping in mind, that to be successful, buy-in is important for both management and staff. Library school students are good candidates to help sort out the survey results.

Choosing participants may be handled in several ways including random sample, stratified sample, total population and convenience sample. Remember that if you put the survey on the web, you'll only get people who use the web to respond. Make sure you consider factors such as the different hats users may wear as they look for information and the current workflow with blocks or barriers they run into. The key informants are the ones who know what is going on in the organization and may not always be library users.

Methods to consider include looking at secondary data that already exists such as search logs, user statistics, interlibrary loan requests.

Surveys are commonly used. Be sure to pre-test the survey on a group of at least 9 people (your buddies) to check if questions make sense and perhaps to time people so that you can say on the beginning of your survey, "This survey will take _x_ minutes to complete." Use as many open-ended or indirect questions as possible. Allow multiple ways to respond via fax, email, and snail mail. Don't forget that incentives work. How about a box of chocolate, candy bar, book or other prize to entice participants?
Interviews often make use of the "critical incident" technique to find out about potential use of information resources. A critical incident prototype question would be: "Tell me about the last time you needed information beyond what you already know to solve a problem in your work role?" If you do phone interviews, be sure to make appointments so that people won't feel like you are interrupting them like telemarketers calling during dinner. Finally, pre-test the phone interview to make sure the questions are clear when spoken over the phone. I said "library" not "liberry."
Focus groups require some specialized training to handle and a trained moderator is needed. Remember MLA has a course on this taught by the expert and author, Beryl Glitz. Focus groups can both mask and reveal minority points of view. Do some interviewing of key informants and ask who is willing to be in a focus group. Even Pizza Hut uses focus groups to test their newly created recipes, so libraries can use them to test radical new services.
Consensus reaching technique requires a great time commitment. An example of this technique was used during the development of the plans for a Library of California because the groups had to agree on appropriate resource sharing. An example of a question using the Delphi technique to reach consensus would be to have a key informant look at a list you created with classes needed on library instruction and ask participants to add to the list. You may need a cookie or food budget here to get people to come in.
Observational study requires a grand commitment of time and can provide very rich information. This is an excellent way of finding out information resources or services, which can be integrated into day-to-day workflow. Many librarians are now doing usability studies to observe how people are using web homepages. How about having those library school students help with this method?

Data collection and presentation does not have to be difficult or complicated. The simplest pie chart or graph may illustrate findings. Relate the data to the question asked. If you didn't ask if they wanted a fireplace in the Library, then don't report it even if they asked for a fireplace. The instructor of this course said to be clear about what you are justifying. Be aware that you are only suggesting perceived needs because you may have uncovered wants or desires.

Measurement problems may appear if participants do not report accurately what they are doing or what they want, i.e. self-reported status. If you ask questions that require the participant to look something up or find information elsewhere, you can forget collecting information on that question. People just won't use other sources to answer survey questions.

Failures of needs assessment occur from limited knowledge and difficulty interweaving data sources. Sometimes, the needs assessment has nothing to do with the goals of the organization and may not further those goals.

Success of needs assessments provide great public relations opportunities and new services and sources which are of value to constituents. Good luck with those survey questions!

Resources to study:

Altschuld, James W. and Witkin, Belle Ruth. (2000). From Needs Assessment to Action: Transforming Needs Into Solution Strategies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Queeney, Donna S. (1995). Assessing Needs in Continuing Education: An Essential Tool for Quality Improvement. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Reviere, Rebecca, Berkowitz, Susan, Carter, Carolyn C., & Ferguson, Carolyn G., eds. (1991). Needs Assessment: A Creative and Practical Guide for Social Scientists. Washington, D.C.: Taylor and Francis.

Rossman, Gretchen B., and Rallis, Sharon F. (1998). Analyzing and Interpreting Data. Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research (p. 168-189). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Pubications.

Soriano, Fernando I. (1995). Conducting Needs Assessments: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

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September/October 2001 volume 10, issue 5

Needs Assessment Pointers

By Marilyn Wolf Schwartz Naval Medical Center San Diego Libraries

September/October 2001
volume 10, issue 5

By Marilyn Wolf Schwartz
Naval Medical Center San Diego Libraries