Program Planning and Evaluation
Needs Assessment
The Basics
- Needs Assessment is the process of determining what issues are important to clientele in the communities served by Cooperative Extension.
- There are many methods of learning about clientele needs, including use of existing data, conducting surveys, community forums of focus groups, and working with advisory committees or key informants.
- Needs Assessment is often paired with Priority Setting, a process for determining which issues are most important, and Strategic Planning to map out how issues can best be addressed.
Needs Assessment: Finding the Right Jungle from New Faculty Orientation Training, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, October 29, 2007. (PDF, 96KB)
Bat Management Needs Assessment from Arizona Children's Environmental Health Coalition. (PDF, 62KB)
Using an Evaluation for a Needs Assessment from Penn State University. (PDF, 62KB)
Increasing Advisory Committee Interest in Programs from Penn State University. (PDF, 51KB)
Group Decision Making Toolkit from Iowa State University includes several group exercises for brainstorming and group decision-making.
Learn More
Iowa State University provides a step-by-step guide to needs assessment, including five methods for gathering data.
Needs Assessment Tipsheets and Examples from Penn State University.
The Community Tool Box, Chapter 3: Assessing Community Needs and Resources. The Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. This very thorough resource covers a variety of approaches to assessing community needs.
More to Explore A list of links about program evaluation and assessment from University of Illinois Extension.