Chapter 4: Needs Assessment:

Theoretical Considerations
Kettner, Designing and Managing Programs: An Effectiveness-Based Approach 5e © 2017, SAGE
Publications.
 The Concept of Need

• Evaluate existing conditions against societally

established standards
– If the community is at or above those
standards, there is no need
– If the community is below those
standards, there is need
Critical issue: Defining standards which are
often vague, elusive and changing
 Theoretical Understandings of Need

Ponsioen
• Society’s first responsibility is to meet the basic survival
needs of its members (biological, social, emotional and
spiritual)
• Need is relative and planning focuses on distribution and
redistribution
 Theoretical Understandings of Need

Maslow
• Need is hierarchical
– only when the more basis needs are satisfied
(physiological survival, e.g., food and shelter) can
higher needs (safety and security) be attended to
– Achievement of the second level of need allows
attention to higher levels of need (love and self-
actualization)
 Theoretical Understandings of Need

Need—often a vague concept

• Can be buried in phrases so global that it has little
value for placing boundaries on the planning task
• Can be employed so narrowly that specific services
are mandated and analysis is unnecessary
• Despite being frequently cited in planning, need is
rarely operationalized
Needs-based planning is possible and necessary
for the design and implementation of effective human
services
 Needs Assessment and the Planning Process

• Problems must be translated into needs that will be

addressed through the planning process
• Need is not only difficult to define as a concept but,
once defined, difficult to measure
 Needs Assessment and the Planning Process

Title XX Amendments to the Social Security Act

(Pub. L. No. 93–647):
• Required each state, as a condition of the receipt of
federal funds, to initiate a planning process that includes
the assessment of need as the beginning point
• Defined a need as any identifiable condition which limits
a person or a family member in meeting his or her full
potential
• Asserted that need has both qualitative and quantitative
dimensions
 Needs Assessment and the Planning Process

Understanding need requires:

• Defining need, with specific emphasis on the
complexity of need as a planning concept
• Examining factors influencing need
• Exploring categories of need
• Recognizing problems with reliability and validity of
data used to determine need
 Factors Influencing the
Definition of Need

• Recognition that need is elastic and relative

• Recognition that demand is elastic and often
increases with increased service provision
• Recognition that elasticity is influenced by social,
political and economic factors such as:
– standard of living
– sociopolitical environment
– availability of resources and technology
influence
 Different Perspectives on Need

Four distinct approaches to measurement of need:

•Normative
•Perceived

•Expressed
•Relative
 Normative Need

• Implies existence of standards or norms

• Focuses on existing data and does not involve
collection of new information:
– Surveys from comparable communities
– Opinions from knowledgeable professionals
• Existing data suggest targets for comparison (if
ratio falls short of a particular standard a need is
said to exist)
 Normative Need

• Strength of this approach is that objective

targets can be generated
• Limitation of this approach is that need levels
are likely to change as knowledge, technology
and values change
 Perceived Need

• Focuses on what people think their needs are or

feel their needs to be
• Requires asking consumers what they perceive
as their needs
• Requires balancing professional judgments of
client needs and potential consumers’
perceptions of what those needs are
 Perceived Need

• Strength of this approach is that need perceived

by the potential consumer provides information
that will be useful in designing a more responsive
service delivery system
• Limitations of this approach:
– the standard changes with each respondent
– actively soliciting consumers’ perceptions
leaves the impression that those needs will be
met and can alienate potential consumers if
services are not provided
 Expressed Need

• Focuses on whether individuals actually attempt to

obtain service
• Relies on demand statistics:
– how many individuals are successful in receiving
services (met need or demand)
– how many individuals are unsuccessful in receiving
services (unmet need or demand)
 Expressed Need

• Strength of this approach is that it focuses on

situations where individuals translate feelings into
action (unmet need becomes the basis for planning)
• Limitation of this approach is that it does not target
overall community need but only the tip of the iceberg
 Relative Need

• Measures the gap between the level of services

existing in one community and those existing in
similar communities or geographic areas
• Focuses on equity
Different Perspectives on Need
 Need Categories and the
Planning Process

• Need cannot be adequately measured by selecting only

one approach—normative, perceived, expressed or
relative
• Multiple approaches to the needs assessment process
feeds a well-organized and pertinent flow of information
into the overall management decision process:
– It can show what the actual demand on human service
agencies is and what potential demand might be
– It can provide useful information as long-term goals and
capital budget programs are reviewed
– It can provide a useful early warning system regarding
potential changes in demand
 Need Categories and the
Planning Process

• Once key data sources are identified and data

collection systems are organized, all four
perspectives on need can be incorporated in a low-
cost and efficient manner
 Determining Who Is in Need

• Concept of “at-risk” populations is fundamental to

needs assessment
• Needs assessment requires:
– establishing standards of need
– devising methodologies for counting the number of
people in a given community who fall below the
standard
 Two Major Problems:
Reliability and Availability of Data

1.Current methods are useful only for deriving estimates

and decision makers often prefer greater precision
2.Data availability
•Program planners must accept these limitations and:
–Use existing and imperfect data sources to generate
targets
–Identify surrogate measures of need (theoretical
requirement)
–Develop the best possible argument that surrogate
measures are valid (political argument)
•