Cover Image

From needs assessment to action : transforming needs into solution strategies /

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Altschuld, James W.
Other Authors: Witkin, Belle Ruth, 1917-
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Sage Publications, [2000]
Subjects:
Needs Assessment.
Planning Techniques.
Organization and Administration.
Table of Contents:
  • The need
  • Would you believe this strange tale?
  • What specifically is missing?
  • This book as a sequel to our prior one
  • Three other important ideas regarding NA
  • Administrative commitment to NA
  • What is the content of the rest of the book?
  • The three phases of needs assessment: a closer look
  • Phase 1 (preassessment)
  • Phase 2 (assessment)
  • Phase 3 (Postassessment)
  • Data related issues and survey methods
  • Some initial thoughts about NA data
  • Moving beyond issues to key questions
  • Some pointers regarding construction of the NA survey
  • Analysing the data: calculating a numerical needs index
  • Obtaining needs assessment data in other ways and putting the data puzzle together
  • Need derived from tests and other sources of quantitative data
  • Deriving needs from qualitative data
  • Putting the data puzzle together
  • Setting needs-based priorities
  • Simple approaches to setting needs-based priorities
  • Sork's approach to setting needs-based priorities
  • A disaggregated decision-making approach to setting needs-based priorties
  • A risk assessment approach to setting needs-based priorities
  • A recap: what method of setting priorities should be used?
  • From needs to solution strategies
  • How do the five approaches compare?
  • Reviewing the literature and benchmarking
  • Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT)
  • Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique (SMART)
  • Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
  • Going beyond the identification of solution strategies
  • Designing needs-based action plans
  • Review the information that is available to you
  • Some specific aspects of reviewing
  • Force field analysis as a tool to pull ideas together
  • Action planning
  • Multiple- (mixed) methods needs assessments
  • Case study 1 - continuing education needs of nurses
  • Case study 2 - A community NA
  • Case study 3 - mental health needs
  • Case study 4 - Health needs
  • Case study 5 - evaluation of a new, national information clearinghouse in education (a retrospective NA)
  • Cross-case analysis and concerns
  • Closing thoughts
  • Another dialogue between two authors
  • Observations about NA
  • The need for more literature on NA
  • A final note.