Getting down to the essentials: How to effectively measure need on a needs assessment survey using a gap analysis approach

Abstract Information: Measuring need through a needs assessment survey is often not easy, given the many different methods that are often used to define what a "need" is. In this Ignite presentation, participants will learn about one concrete way of measuring participants' needs through a gap analysis, which measures both participants' present state and their desired state (Watkins et al., 2012). Participants will be provided examples of survey questions to measure these states in a valid manner that is housed in a framework of a systems thinking approach, meaning that participants' present and desired states under investigation are done so with personal, social, and societal influences in consideration (Arther & McMahon, 2005). The strengths and weaknesses of measuring need through this approach compared to other approaches will be briefly described. Participants will leave this Ignite presentation with one contextual framework to apply to their own needs assessment surveys along with a template of survey questions that can be structured to measure needs effectively.

Relevance Statement: There are many different ways to conceptualize need on surveys, such as through measuring participants' perceived challenges faced in the area being assessed, measuring need through demand, or through comparing the perceived competency levels of a group to a norm set by experts (O'Brien, 2010). These methods of measuring need are often described abstractly, making it difficult for evaluators, especially emerging evaluators, to develop their own effective needs assessment survey. Although some guides to creating effective needs assessment surveys do exist (i.e., NOAA, CDC), they often don't provide examples of specific survey questions to ask on needs assessments. Therefore, this presentation will address this gap by providing hands-on resources for evaluators to utilize when measuring need. This information will also be helpful for new and emerging evaluators as they gain familiarity with the different ways that survey questions can be structured to measure need through a gap analysis approach. Furthermore, the gap analysis method for measuring need that will be covered in the presentation expands the field of evaluation by conceptualizing needs assessment development within the framework of a systems thinking approach, which is an area with a limited amount of literature. Although some assessments have been developed using a systems thinking approach, such as through the development of student rubrics (Grohs et al., 2018; Lasker, 2019), there is limited information on systems thinking utilized with needs assessment surveys. This presentation strongly aligns with the AEA Evaluator Competency of Domain Context as the multiple perspectives of participants within the topics under investigation are examined through various personal, social, and societal influences. The systems thinking framework encourages evaluators to measure the needs of participants in a multi-dimensional way by capturing participants' unique circumstances and contextual differences in which they face their perceived needs.