A Guide to Assessing Needs: Essential Tools for Collecting Information, Making Decisions, and Achieving Development Results
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A Guide to Assessing Needs is made available through the World Bank's open knowledge initiative which makes a variety of essential resources for people around the world accessible for free online.
Description of the book:
The earliest decisions that lead to development projects are among the most critical in determining long-term success. This phase of project development transforms exciting ideas into project proposals, setting the stage for a variety of actions that will eventually lead (if all goes well) to desirable results. From deciding to propose a sanitation project in South Asia to selecting approaches that strengthen school management in South America, these decisions are the starting place of development. This book is your guide to having assessing needs and then making essential decisions about what to do next.
Needs assessments support this early phase of project
development with proven approaches for gathering information
and making justifiable decisions. Filled with practical
strategies, tools, and guides, you will find that this book
covers both large-scale formal needs assessments, as well as
less-formal assessments that guide daily decisions. Included
in the book is a blend of rigorous methods and realistic tools
that can help you make informed and reasoned decisions. Use
the tools featured in the book to conduct focus groups,
develop surveys, prioritize needs, and lead group
decision-making; developing a comprehensive, yet realistic,
approach to identifying needs and selecting among alternative
ways forward.
Individual
Chapter and Tools:
Section 1. Needs Assessment: Frequently Asked Questions
Section 2. Needs Assessment: Steps to Success
Section 3. Needs Assessment: Tools and Techniques
Part 3A. Data Collection Tools and Techniques (all tools)
Document or Data Review
Guided Expert Reviews
Management of Focus Groups
Interviews
Dual-Response Surveys
SWOT+
World Café™ (with “Speed Dating” Variation)
Delphi Technique
Performance Observations
Task Analysis (Hierarchical or Sequential, If-Then, and Model-Based)
Cognitive Task Analysis
Part 3B. Decision-Making Tools and Techniques (all tools)
Nominal Group Technique
Multicriteria Analysis
Tabletop Analysis
Pair-Wise Comparison
2 × 2 Matrix Decision Aids
Fishbone Diagrams
Scenarios
Root Cause Analysis
Fault Tree Analysis
Concept Mapping
Future Wheel
Performance Pyramid
Appendix A. Management and Implementation Guides and
Checklists
A.1. Implementation Plan for a Needs
Assessment
A.2. Detailed Checklist for Needs Assessment
Management Activities
A.3. A Six-Week Needs Assessment
Implementation Guide
A.4. Tools and Techniques to Consider
A.5. Guide to Selecting Tools and Techniques
(Applied MulticriteriaAnalysis)
A.6. Three-Phase Needs Assessment Process
with AdditionalDetails