Oregon State University Needs Assessment Primer

This resource describes the steps taken to plan and implement a needs assessment.

From the Introduction:

“In Extension, needs assessment should be a part of program planning and evaluation. Many of us already intuitively recognize the importance of assessing need when developing or tweaking programs and many of us already use bits and pieces of information to help guide our program decision making. This is a good start, but this needs assessment primer will help you see that there are some structured ways to be thinking about needs assessment. Recognizing and even following the steps of more structured needs assessment can help us all craft more meaningful programs that serve our desired audiences and can easily be evaluated on their ability to meet the needs of constituents. In many cases, needs assessment can foster positive and meaningful changes to the way we think about and develop programs.” See below for a preview of the document and to download.