The different types of need analysis approaches are as follows: Performance analysis — This type of approach examines and analyze the skill-related deficiency of a certain individual. As shown in self assessment templates the holistic context of the individual must be considered.
The results of the analysis will try to answer and resolve skill-related deficiencies such as in the case of a training assessment. Contextual analysis — This type of approach aims to analyze the environment that the individual or business functions. In contrast to performance analysis that is focused on the skillset of the target population, this type of analysis concentrates on the macro aspect of the community, business or organization.
Feasibility analysis — This type of analyze aims to examine and analyze whether or not a planned project is feasible. These are usually used in project assessment and development undertakings.
In terms of security assessment templates , this type of analysis will focus on the issue whether the planned security approach is feasible taking into account the resources and the communities involved. This type of assessment is relevant in businesses, academic institutions, and organizations.
Training needs assessment gives employees in a business setting an impression that their professional growth and condition is valued and considered as a priority by their employers. Knowing their level of expertise and at the same time their respective training deficiencies can help boost their self-confidence and eagerness to grow and excel in their works. Abiding by industry standards—established over time by the industry as a whole—saves the NPS from having to reinvent the wheel in its own management of assets across the Service.
Use of industry standard practices and performance measurement benchmarks legitimizes the management of NPS facilities because these standards and benchmarks have been proven successful and are recognized by government oversight agencies, such as the Office of Management and Budget, the General Accounting Office, and the Office of the Inspector General.
The total cost of ownership, as identified in Stewardship of Federal Facilities Academy Press, includes the actions listed below. Random events such as heavy storms, human error, or air pollution may also increase the need for maintenance and repair funding for specific assets at a park unit.
The complexity of each asset—as well as its size, current age, condition, and the nature of its exterior finish—will also influence the level of maintenance and repair activities required to prolong the life cycle of the facility. Other factors influencing the level of maintenance and repair required include:. Maintenance and Repair Funding Levels Based on industry standards, NPS experience, and professional judgment, a general guideline for determining the appropriate annual level of maintenance and repair funding should be about 5 percent of the CRV of total assets inventoried.
Note that if an asset receives adequate maintenance and repair funding, which in turn results in the execution of maintenance services, the asset will remain in fair or good condition as shown in Figure Asset in Good Condition Scheduled Maintenance.
Asset in Poor Condition Replacement. Scheduled Maintenance. Deferred maintenance is action required to correct existing deficiencies that are a result of unaccomplished past maintenance, repairs, or replacements. The NPS has a large maintenance backlog of projects that have not been addressed due to lack of funding, limited staffing, and other factors.
Completing these deferred maintenance projects will cost billions of dollars. Further asset deterioration is likely to occur in NPS park units if the backlog is not reduced. If this happens, the ultimate cost of correcting the deficiencies will increase exponentially. The funds required to correct deficiencies that will reduce the maintenance backlog are the next logical element to be included in the total maintenance and repair budget.
These funds are often ignored by public agencies and are used to encourage expansion of assets without adequate maintenance funding. To counter this trend toward increasing the backlog of maintenance deficiencies, the total effective budget for public agencies—including the NPS—must include:. NOTE: Backlogs include deferred work. Even if the deferred work has been funded, it will still be considered a backlog because the work has not yet been completed.
Reducing the Maintenance Backlog Several years of elevated funding and effort will be required to eliminate the maintenance backlog. An appropriate budget should be established to ensure the prompt reduction of the backlog. Repair spending must be adequate to outpace the continued growth of deferred maintenance tasks that occurs as a cumulative result of past neglect.
No general valid rules of thumb can be recommended for determining funding, as this is largely dependent upon the findings of the condition assessment. Now, as parks continue to conduct condition assessments, they will identify fewer new deferred maintenance deficiencies and will begin collecting information that will make it possible to anticipate and plan for the expense of replacing components.
This process—known as component renewal or recapitalization—as well as other measures, will make the NPS less reactive and more proactive in its approach to maintenance.
The FCAS—a key component of an effective maintenance and repair program in the facility management industry—is also the key component to identifying and validating the existence of a maintenance backlog in the NPS, and a key component in planning and preparing for long-term needs. The FCAS process allows for identification of deficiencies that need to be corrected and anticipation of components that will need to be replaced.
It documents both the actions that need to be taken and the costs of these actions. A team of park unit staff is generally responsible for the condition assessment inspections and for developing accurate and verifiable cost estimates for recommended actions.
Various teams conduct these condition assessment inspections. These teams may include certified professionals such as architects and engineers; some teams contain NPS employees trained as facility inspectors. Each of these individuals works together to determine the physical condition and functional performance of a facility.
When assets are managed appropriately through the FCAS, the result is an accurate asset inventory that tracks past, present, and proposed future actions taken with a facility or resource. The FCAS creates a sophisticated, accurate, and accountable system for the care of assets and resources. The establishment and facilitation of comprehensive preventive maintenance routines often results in a reduction in the unanticipated failures of equipment and facility systems and an increase in their life expectancy.
In addition, the FCAS aids in developing sound and defensible budgets based on NPS goals and objectives, and increases the credibility of the NPS with the Office of Management and Budget and Congress in the areas of facilities maintenance, repair, and construction. Grouping individual identified actions into comprehensive repair, rehabilitation, or replacement projects. Conducting the FCAS incorporates the following primary components of the AMP: needs assessment, inventory of assets, and work identification.
As you can see, once a park has completed an inventory of its assets, the FCAS can be initiated. Once this process is complete, work is identified and the park facility managers can begin planning for the performance and evaluation of this work. The condition assessment inspection is the portion of the FCAS that occurs in the field. The integrity of the FCAS relies upon the accurate and complete collection of deficiency information about an asset during this field component.
NPS employees do not need to be professional inspectors to perform the condition assessment inspection. However, a condition assessment inspector does need to be skilled enough with maintenance and repair issues related to the specific asset type to be able to determine the corrective actions for deficiencies identified in the inspection. Both of these types of condition assessments are important to the successful maintenance and repair of NPS parks, assets, facilities, and resources but they differ slightly in implementation, cost, and level of detail.
Step 1 - Identification and documentation of baseline asset inventory information - Review of previously identified or noticeable deficiencies and the corrective actions taken - Validation of the maintenance deficiency backlog previously identified. Step 3 - Completion of initial surveys for any newly acquired facilities and identification of recently developed deficiencies in all other assets.
A multidisciplinary team of specialists—including architects, engineers, and facility inspectors—conduct the INCAC. The number of individuals and associated expertise making up this team will be dependent upon the complexity of the asset.
The comprehensive condition assessment is to be completed approximately every three to five years. If conditions warrant or regulations require, a comprehensive assessment may occur more or less frequently. Also included in the INCAC is a complete listing of all facility code and standard violations, as well as facility conditions related to critical facility components and systems, such as structure, roofing, HVAC, plumbing, and fire safety.
If the park lacks the expertise to do a necessary structural analysis, it should identify the need for further in-depth professional analysis. The narrative portion of the report must include recommendations for the corrective action. If the condition assessment is performed by a park team, the team should input this information directly into the FMSS.
Doing so keeps the condition assessment information current and completes the Asset Management Process. Condition Assessment Comparison Schedule The Condition Assessment Annual is a basic management tool parks use to track the condition of assets every year. The Condition Assessment Comprehensive is a much more detailed review of park assets and is to be scheduled every three to five years.
The figure below illustrates one example of the frequency with which condition assessments might be performed at a park. In this case, a Condition Assessment Comprehensive, which is a review of all asset systems and components, will include the need and cost for specialized analysis.
The more defined solution for the condition is identified through the specialized analysis. Clearly, the comprehensive condition assessment is required to be completed prior to undertaking a specialized analysis. An activity with the assigned budgetary and manpower resources of a condition assessment inspection needs to be planned and managed carefully.
Solid preparation for and effective management of the FCAS produces impressive results that are invaluable to overall park unit management and facility management activities.
Dedicated teams—including maintenance staff, architects, engineers, facility inspectors, students, or trained NPS employees—can be used to conduct condition assessments. The condition assessment team should be provided with the number and complexity of assets to be assessed, anticipated or known problems, and the estimated time frame available to conduct an assessment.
To manage the FCAS effectively, each portion of the team has a clearly defined role, as detailed below:. The Importance of Being Prepared Preparing for the condition assessment will require a significant time commitment from each park unit.
Additional time will be needed to prepare for an INCAC, due to the need for consolidating historical park maintenance data as a baseline for completing facility inspections and the eventual inclusion of verified data into the FMSS or a data library.
Condition assessments are similar to planning a large maintenance or capital project using in-house NPS labor. This means that the planning of field and office work at a park unit must be carried out in detail, in a timely manner, and in such a way that the management team and staff resources at the park unit are informed about their jobs and the expected timing of these jobs.
Being prepared for a condition assessment inspection is essential if personnel and budgetary resources are to be used effectively and efficiently during the condition assessment. Following the completion of initial efforts to consolidate data into an easily retrievable format, future condition assessments will be less time consuming. Preparing for subsequent condition assessments requires the park to run the WOCALD report in the work order tracking module to identify existing deficiency work orders.
Being prepared will save time, save money, and increase the efficiency of the condition assessment process. Project Scheduling: Coordination of times and locations 2. Information Gathering: Preparation and search for data 3. Before beginning the condition assessment process, park units should have their asset hierarchy entered into the FMSS, including an API worksheet completed for each asset.
By evaluating the APIs of assets, park units should then be able to determine which assets have the highest priority in the park. Once this information is established, each park must determine the most logical order for scheduling condition assessments. Smaller parks may want to schedule condition assessments starting with higher priority assets and proceed to lower priority assets.
On the other hand, in order to best apply the time and resources of the condition assessment team, a larger park such as Grand Canyon may need to schedule condition assessments on all assets in an isolated area at one time. For example, it would make logistical sense to complete condition assessments for all Phantom Ranch assets during one trip to the area at the bottom of the canyon.
It is, however, an activity that must be implemented effectively and scheduled in advance. In order to use these experts in an effective manner, parks should review the condition assessment process with the park unit managers, including the Superintendent. This will ensure that those managers who may be able to provide additional support or additional employees to help complete the condition assessment have an understanding and acceptance of the process.
A pre-construction meeting is generally held before the launch of a contracted construction project. By using maps, park brochures, and other specific park materials in the pre-condition assessment inspection meeting, along with brief tours of various sites within a park unit, park units can avoid confusion, delays and additional costs for inspections.
It is helpful to use the associated Condition Assessment Job Plan during the pre-condition assessment inspection meeting, especially since it is a system rule to use this document as an inspection checklist when performing the on-site condition assessment inspection. Condition assessment inspections must be carried out in field locations.
As you begin the FCAS, you must validate and update any existing data by going into the field. If park units are using a digital camera as part of this process, it is recommended that a minimum of one digital photograph be taken of each asset and its surroundings during the initial condition assessment inspection. Digital photographs can be utilized to supplement documentation of identified deficiencies.
These digital photographs will be stored and should be easily retrievable in the Servicewide digital image library under development , but they can be stored at each park unit for the time being. Information Gathering for a Condition Assessment Comprehensive When a condition assessment comprehensive is planned, a park should make extra efforts to gather all documents pertaining to its assets, including verified and updated data from existing condition assessments and building files.
The park unit should also collect all applicable existing drawings for assets to be assessed in a condition assessment comprehensive. Drawings should be organized by assets. If current drawings of buildings are not available, each park should draw a floor plan of the building for each floor. Include the locations of all windows, doors, built-in cabinetry, and appliances.
Measure and document the dimensions of interior and exterior walls, windows, doors, and other features. Document the building length, width, eave, parapet, and ridge height on the floor plans.
Other informational documents that may be helpful with a condition assessment inspection might include energy usage data, if available.
This data is required to conduct Level 1 energy audits. Park staff should gather data on all metered electrical, propane, water, and other energy services to park buildings for the previous two years.
Data should be in Excel file format presenting the following information: Bldg , Annual Consumption kwh, gal, etc. In summary, when preparing for an INCAC, a park should gather or obtain the following items for each asset, if available:. Specific details about using these computer programs are presented in the last two chapters in this manual.
Once all the appropriate information is collected and the assessment scheduled, the park unit can begin to complete the condition assessment.
This process consists of preparatory work in the FMSS, followed by condition assessment field work. A number of the preparatory steps must be done to initiate the condition assessment process in FMSS. The first is recognizing that condition assessments are done repetitively at varying times—which is basically the same as preventive maintenance activities.
The annual condition assessment, then, uses PMs as a starting point. This is followed by the requirements found in Condition Assessment Work Order—which lists the necessary steps and tasks required to complete inspection of an asset and its features. Generation of a Condition Assessment Work Order is required prior to conducting the condition assessment inspections. This requirement standardizes inspections throughout the NPS by creating a work order and associated Condition Assessment Job Plan against which identified deficiencies can be reported for each asset.
A CA Plan defines the processes or steps involved in performing a condition assessment of an asset and its features. You should also obtain an inspection guidance document for each type of asset being inspected. These documents supplement the CA plans and give your park additional assistance when conducting assessments. Condition Assessment Job Plans and inspection guidance documents are particularly important as they set the basic standards for a Servicewide level of consistency and systematic process of conducting condition assessments.
This system rule helps maintain consistency through a unified standard of data entry Servicewide. For any condition assessment, it is helpful to assemble an inspection kit consisting of such items as paper, pencil, tape measure, and a digital camera if your park has decided to include this tool in the kit. After the on-site condition assessment inspection has occurred, park units must enter deficiency information into FMSS.
A cost estimate is a compilation of the items needed, the material, labor and tool costs, to complete a deficiency remediation. In the previous section, which defined 5 tasks for completing condition assessments, Task 3 introduced the concept of actual field inspection of assets. The following general outline is intended to guide NPS personnel in consistently and efficiently inspecting assets.
In the Field: Conducting Inspections Efficient and effective inspections require that any deficiency identified in an asset be documented at the time it is discovered, along with all the relevant data that is necessary to plan corrective actions, and estimate the costs of corrective action.
Yet, the inspectors should avoid acquiring unnecessary and overly detailed information. The balancing of information gathering suggests that, at a minimum, the inspection documentation should include:. Be specific. The goal is to be able—without a drawing or other guidance—to know the precise location of the deficiency by simply viewing the report.
If the corrective action spans several locations, describe just that. Does the corrective action recur across several rooms e. Is it a door, wall, ceiling, chilled water supply pump, condensate return unit, window, etc.? Include material types and sizes, and give details on capacities such as horsepower, voltage, and amperes. Familiarity with CESS is important before going out in the field. This will allow inspectors to better understand what data is required.
Is it a wood solid core door or is it a hollow core door? This information is critical. It is extremely hard to prepare cost estimates and work orders without this detailed information. Step 4: Justify WHY the deficiency needs to be corrected. Be brief and to the point, using descriptive verbs that detail the nature of the deficiency. If the feature is damaged, then detail what kind of damage has occurred. Be specific about why there is a need for a corrective action.
Remember, this information justifies the need to correct the deficiency. Inspectors must measure and quantify the materials needed for the corrective actions. Use standard units of measure. This is critical to preparing cost estimates and work orders. Inspectors must be familiar with the CESS database to ensure data is collected for the appropriate quantities. Below are guidelines used to assign corrective action priorities.
When working with deferred maintenance, select one of the corrective action priorities: critical 9 , serious 5 , or minor 1. Routinely, the work-type chosen will be Deferred Maintenance.
A deficiency is a defect in a facility that occurs when maintenance and repair tasks are not performed in a timely manner, or may result from changes to code. Deficiencies may not have immediately observable physical consequences; however, when allowed to accumulate uncorrected, they inevitably lead to deterioration of performance, loss of asset value, or both. An accumulation of such uncorrected deficiencies is a backlog that represents a liability for an asset in both physical and financial terms.
The work required to correct deficiencies can be divided into categories, which are referred to in FMSS as sub-work types. The most common are defined below. Component renewal work that has been tracked in the system becomes Component Renewal Deferred Maintenance if it is not funded when required.
This sub-work type allows for long-term business practices to be documented and reported. Typical work includes painting, caulking, sealing, carpet replacements, etc. A few RM activities may have cycles of greater than 10 years, such as repointing of bricks. Recurring maintenance that has been tracked in the system becomes Recurring Maintenance Deferred Maintenance if it is not funded when required.
All of these sub types fall under the category of Facility Maintenance, which is itself one of three main work types. The other two main work types are Capital Improvements and Facility Operations.
The work type and sub type fields are required to be completed, to identify this difference between deficiencies and to allow parks to capture all necessary work.
Determining Corrective Action The person or team completing the inspections must have the skills necessary to accurately identify deficiencies, as well as the ability to determine the best corrective actions to repair the deficiencies.
Use knowledgeable staff who can record what the appropriate remedy is for the repair. For example, one employee sent to review a building sees a stain on the wall and records the stain and that the wall needs to be painted. A more knowledgeable employee can see that the real problem is a water leak from a pipe above the ceiling and that the leak needs to be repaired and drywall replaced before the area is repainted.
Record the complete information needed to cost out the project; if inspectors record only very basic information during inspection, the park will not have enough data to correctly cost out the remedy. The following scenarios illustrate the importance of collecting enough information to be useful.
Chris, a condition assessment inspector, recorded that there was a deficiency identified during a building inspection. After returning to the office, Chris did not have time to cost out the project for a day or two. Finally getting around to it, Chris remembers that two rooms in the building need painting but cannot remember the square footage of the area that needs painting. Also, Chris did not note the painting area for the several windows in the room that also need painting.
Another condition assessment inspector, A. However, A. Without these details, the cost estimates will be difficult to complete accurately, even at a generalized level. During the inspection, be sure to gather all the information needed to. At the same time, do not go to the other extreme by gathering information that is not needed to develop a general estimate. For example, you do not need to record the exact nail size needed for a project.
This type of cost is already calculated by the CESS program at a level that is acceptable for a generalized estimate. Once you determine the corrective action, you must decide whether the corrective action priority is critical, serious, or minor.
Use the following definitions in determining a priority. Record the level in the condition assessment work order when it has been determined. Chapter Purpose This chapter is designed to provide an introduction to the basics of cost estimating. CESS is used for the preparation of cost estimates that remedy asset deficiencies found during the condition assessment process.
The Cost Estimating Professional A cost estimator is a recognized professional in the design and construction industry.
Individuals who complete years of training and examinations can attain certification as an estimator. The goal of this course is not to make you a professional cost estimator. It is to provide NPS personnel with the tools to produce accurate and consistent estimates at a primary level in order to better facilitate the remediation of identified deficiencies throughout the NPS.
A cost estimate is a compilation of all the costs of the various elements of a project or effort within an agreed upon list of tasks required to remediate the deficiency. In order to complete a cost estimate, it is important to have a well-rounded, working knowledge of construction practices.
Without the experience and ability to visualize construction, the estimator will not be able to complete an accurate, consistent cost estimate. An inspector must also have enough knowledge of the Cost Estimating Software System CESS to understand what information needs to be recorded during the condition assessment inspection.
The inspector must include accurate descriptions of the deficiencies and associated corrective actions, including information on materials and quantities, so that the cost estimator can select and record the appropriate assemblies, materials, and quantities needed for the cost estimate.
Sometimes one person or group the inspector[s] performs the condition inspection while someone else the cost estimator does the computer cost estimating work. It is critical that staff work as a team to assure necessary information is gathered by the inspector during the condition assessment. To perform an accurate, consistent cost estimate, the cost estimator must be provided with sufficient information, as this person will not have seen the deficiency and must entirely rely on what the inspector recorded on the deficiency and appropriate corrective action report.
Without sufficient information, the inspector may need to go back to the asset and repeat the inspection to retrieve the information needed. For example, the inspector must record more information than, for example, "the roof needs repair.
The NPS relies on these early conceptual estimates for preliminary budgetary planning. Therefore, it is important that the initial estimates for a project be accurate to some degree to enhance the project budget process. An accurate estimate at this level establishes a baseline estimate that allows for some deviation when the original corrective action and the cost estimate are reviewed.
This enables the refinement of estimates required in the future and allows tracking of design and cost changes. A consistent estimate is one that, when completed by any trained NPS individual, will result in a similar result regardless of which trained NPS individual completes the estimate. Each estimate must be kept consistent with the scope of other estimates within the same park, the same region, as well as with estimates Servicewide.
The use of the same cost estimating program, Servicewide, enables standardized comparisons between budget and management related work estimates at every level within the NPS.
This will allow for increased accountability within the NPS because managers at every level will have better information from which to make decisions. Figure Accurate, Consistent Cost Estimate.
It is important to understand the background for each class of estimate as you begin the process of cost estimating.
Imagine the classes of estimates in terms of a target. It is clear that a Class C estimate allows for more flexibility in estimating the cost of a deficiency remediation project.
As estimates proceed toward a Class A estimate, the estimated costs must reflect the actual costs of the project more accurately. At the Class C estimate stage, the design is at the conceptual level and programming of the project is an approximation. The construction industry refers to these estimates as conceptual or order-of-magnitude estimates.
A Class C estimate is generally a conceptual cost estimate based on square foot costs of similar construction. Although students will only be asked to create Class C estimate for this course, Class B and Class A estimates are described below for further background. Class B Estimates After planning and preliminary design has been accomplished, a Class B estimate is prepared.
The design usually has determined major cost items at this point. Industry refers to Class B estimates as budgetary, assembly, or system estimates. The National Park Service uses Class B estimates during the design development phase of a project minimum 30 percent design. A Class B estimate is a combination of lump sum conceptual costs , assemblies, and unit price costs.
Class A Estimates At the end of the design phase and with completed construction documents, a Class A estimate is prepared. This estimate is based on a complete and detailed quantity take-off from the construction drawings and specifications. The industry refers to Class A estimates as the detailed, definitive construction of unit price estimates. The National Park Service uses Class A estimates at the end of the design process, when the project construction documents are complete. It is often referred to as the Official Government Estimate.
A Class A estimate is based on a thorough quantity estimate from completed construction drawings and specifications. Contingencies are generally not used for a final Class A estimate. Sometimes a preliminary Class A is prepared before 20 percent design, and a contingency of 0 to 10 percent can be used.
The figure above illustrates the process of refining the cost estimate, as a project or corrective action moves from the initial project conception and condition assessment stage Class C estimate to the construction award stage Class A. The concepts of inspection, data collection, identification of deficiencies and determining corrective actions, while discussed previously, are fundamental to accurate cost estimating, and are therefore reinforced here.
Cost estimating for condition assessments begins with data collection. When assessing the deficiencies of an asset, it is relatively easy to determine the problem in a majority of situations. The real work is to determine how the deficiency will be remedied. The proper method for defining a deficiency and the actions required to correct the deficiency relies on the facility inspector.
At the point of data collection, the facility inspector must not only describe the deficiency, but also what work is going to be required to fix that deficiency. In addition, the facility inspector cannot generalize the repair requirements. The facility inspector has to break the deficiency down into familiar components and units that allow park unit personnel to be as thorough as possible with the cost estimate. The RN Field Nurse Supervisor who meets you in your home or at your hospital bedside will work with you to evaluate all of your safety, medical and social needs.
Together, you and your nurse will develop a comprehensive home care plan, covering the number of service hours, days and duties that best suit your unique needs, and provide you with helpful safety recommendations you can use to make your home life happier, healthier and help you maintain your independence.
After the assessment, our RN Field Nurse Supervisor shares their evaluation with your Service Coordinator, who selects and schedules the caregivers best suited to your unique needs. Together, your personal home health care team discusses your plan of care in detail to ensure your caregiver arrives to your home fully prepared, on time, and ready to make a difference in your life.
As our company continues to provide you with services, your RN Field Nurse Supervisor will schedule monthly, no-cost visits to your home. These follow up assessments allow us to constantly improve our plan of care to reflect your changing needs and better serve you.
But perhaps your reasons are not entirely clear. Asking these questions gives you the chance to become clearer. What do we want to get out of it?
How will the results be used? Again, your goals and uses may be very apparent; they may also relate to your reasons above. But you ought to be able to state them before you begin. Are we prepared to do the work that needs to be done, with high-quality effort? Before you begin, make sure your answer is Yes. How much time can you allow?
Your answer will depend upon what is already known; upon the size of your target group; upon the importance involved; and upon the resources you have at your disposal. How many people can help? How much money is available to spend? If nothing is known, the community is large, resources are low, and importance is high, your survey may take considerable time, several months or even more.
But if the reverse is true, you could complete a good survey in a month or less. These figures are approximations. We would like to be more specific, but there is no one universal answer to how much time a survey should take. A minimum standard might be this:. Collect enough reliable information from a representative group so that you are sufficiently confident in using that information to guide future action. If you are surveying the needs of a small or even medium-sized group, you can and should include every single person.
But if you have a neighborhood of 5, people, or a larger community, you probably will not be able to ask everyone directly. When the group is larger, you can make your survey available to everyone who wants to answer it. But a more objective technique, which will usually give you more reliable information, is to construct a sample -- a pre-determined percentage of the total group -- and to ask each member of the sample for their input.
For a smaller group, where you are asking everybody, this question will not arise. But with a larger group, when you are using a sample of the total population, you may want to be sure that certain parts of that population are included. For example, are you assessing community childcare needs? You'd then want to be sure to include parents of young children, and you might also survey or interview that group separately.
These questions will depend upon the scope of the assessment. If you are asking about all possible needs in the community, then phrase your questions accordingly, and allow for a wide range of possible answers. On the other hand, if you are asking only about certain types of needs -- transportation, or violence prevention, for example -- then your questions will naturally be geared to them.
Either way, you have a choice between asking more quantitative, or closed-ended questions, and more qualitative, or open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions involve a choice among fixed alternatives -- you might state your degree of agreement with certain questions, or place your preferences in rank order.
Open-ended questions allow more freedom; they give those answering the chance to say anything they want, even though the answers may be less precise. In many cases, your survey can include both types of questions.
If you do interviews, the more people asking, the more ground you can cover. However, you'll also have to train more interviewers, both in general interviewing skills and in using a standard procedure, so that results don't vary just because the interviewers operated differently.
If you use written surveys, this question is less relevant, but those who give out and collect the surveys should be thoroughly and uniformly instructed. And remember: If you can, bring together a group to help you design the actual questions. Your group members will almost always think of good questions and ideas you wouldn't come up with alone. Include the instructions; this is an often-neglected part of survey work, but don't forget it. Your instructions will set the tone for those who will be responding.
The test group should ideally be composed of the same kinds of people who will be taking the full survey. A test group will let you know if your instructions are clear and if your questions make sense.
Even if your survey is perfectly clear to you, it may not be clear to them. You need to find this out before the full survey gets dispersed.
Don't bypass this step: your test group is like a trial run, or dress rehearsal, which will help you get rid of the rough spots before you hit the big time. Administer the survey to the people you have chosen once you are satisfied that all necessary revisions have been made.
For closed-ended questions, this can be a matter of simple addition. For open-ended questions, you can code the results into categories. Get some feedback from others about what categories to use, because the ones you decide on will shape how you interpret the data -- the next step.
Interpretation goes beyond simple tabulation. It asks the questions: What is the meaning of the results? What are the main patterns that occur?
What possible actions do the results point to? It's helpful if a group of people -- perhaps the same people who carried out the assessment -- review the results and share their own interpretations. Because the same numbers can mean different things to different people, it may take a fair amount of discussion here to clarify the most nearly accurate interpretation of the information you have.
Now comes the main payoff of your needs assessment survey, and your main reason for having done all this work. Bring the results and interpretations to your full group, and decide what to do next.
A good answer may once again take thought and discussion, but you can now plan and implement future actions with greater confidence that those actions are based upon the real needs of the people you want to serve. And many of those benefits might be traced back to your assessment. Aren't you glad you listened to that stranger who asked whether you had done a needs assessment survey?
Which of course is the reason we do these surveys in the first place. The results are there to be used for action; and your group should have already agreed to use them, going back to the beginning. We're not quite through yet, however. Very few aspects of community work are ever really finished, and conducting a needs assessment survey is no exception.
Just as it makes sense to see a doctor once a year or so for a checkup, even if you're young and healthy, it makes sense to revisit community needs as well. Community needs can change; you want to be sure you know if, when, how, and why they do. For needs assessment is really an ongoing process just like community action itself. We've taken some time to talk about community needs, since knowing them is fundamental for good community development work.
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