KEY COMPONENT #3: Methods Used to Determine Needs

KEY COMPONENT #3: 

Methods Used to Determine Needs

In the methods section, you will need to share information regarding how you collected the data and other details about data collection. This will give the reader information on how the needs of your program are determined. 

What methods were used to collect data that helped to understand the needs of your program? Did you use surveys, did you interview participants, or did you do both? Did you gather information from a well-known assessment instrument or did you create the tool? Did your assessment have specific answers to chose from or did it have questions that asked for responses to be on a scale? 

When gathering information, how did you recruit people and who were your participants? Did you only survey participants/clients that make use of your service or program or did you ask individuals working within the service? Maybe you asked a variety of individuals to gain a well-rounded perspective. How many people participated? Is your program small and therefore could finding numerical data such as a percentage provide a better understanding of the response rate to your assessment? 

These are only some of the relevant components of the methods section of the needs assessment report. Remember that this blog is meant to provide some simple, easy to understand tips and information to get you started. Once you have completed all that is outlined in this blog, please consult with other resources to finalize and solidify your report.