Definition and scope of the needs assessment

A needs assessment is a systematic process to identify gaps between current and desired outcomes, informing decision-making and resource allocation.

Wath this video from the National University of Singapore to understand why it’s needed and how to best conduct it:

Additional Tips and Considerations:

• Involve key stakeholders throughout the process to ensure ownership and buy-in.
• Use a mixed-methods approach to combine qualitative and quantitative data.
• Consider using existing data sources and tools to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Tips and recommendation to conduct your Needs Assessment

The needs assessment will provide information to make decisions regarding key priorities, challenges, opportunities for your grassroots sports organisation.

A needs assessment study will essentially be undertaken to determine:

• the potential need for a project which has been proposed or is being discussed within the community/organisation (in that case the use of digitalisation to solve a problem);
• to assess the sport and recreation needs of your community/organisation. 

Your needs analysis will be the process you will go through to evaluate a performance issue to determine the root cause of that performance issue and offer one or more solutions that will hopefully resolve that performance issue (ideally in a measurable and evidence-based way). 

Here are three of the most popular methods of collecting needs assessment data:

Having collected al these data, it is essential to analyse them. Here are few tips for you to produce a useful executive report:

• Thematic Analysis: Identify recurring themes and patterns
• Use Multiple Analytic Techniques: Employ a range of analytical methods, including descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and content analysis, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the data.
• Consider Limitations: Recognize the study’s limitations and potential sources of error, such as small sample sizes or self-reported data, and address these in the interpretation and reporting of findings.

You may use web-based tools to help you conduct the analysis. Here are a few tools we like:

• Mentimeter is a simple yet powerful survey and presentation platform through interactive polls. The word cloud is particularly interesting for identifying patterns.
•  Dedoose is a cross-platform app for analysing qualitative and mixed methods research with text, photos, audio, videos, spreadsheet data and more. And you get a 1-month free trial and then a fair deal of paying only when you log-in. 

Key Takeaways

📟 Involve stakeholders throughout the assessment process to ensure their perceptions and values are incorporated.

📟 Use stakeholder engagement methods, such as surveys, focus groups, or interviews, to gather their input and feedback.

📟 Analyse and synthesise stakeholder data to identify patterns, themes, and priorities.

📟 Prioritise needs based on stakeholders’ values and concerns, ensuring that the assessment’s findings and recommendations are aligned with their goals and objectives.

Topic materials & Resources to go further

Name of the material	Why it matters / What you will find
Comprehensive outline of Needs Assesment 🔗	To help you remind the key elements and steps of a Needs Assessment.
What is a needs assessment? 3 types and examples 🔗	A blog post by Asana explaining in details the interest and the existing methodology to conduct a needs assessment.
Community Needs Assessment: the resources and examples your organisation needs 🔗	A toolbox by GetConnected of elements and tips for you to conduct a community needed assessment (including templates).
Designing and Conducting Focus Group interview 🔗	A detailed yet simple guide by Richard Krueger on how to best conduct Focus group interview.