Needs & Satisfaction Assessment Strategy Guide
Needs & Satisfaction Assessment Process
Regardless of whether one is conducting a needs or satisfaction assessment, every
assessment goes through the following steps as identified by Schuh & Upcraft (2001).
1. Define the problem – Is information lacking about students, in general, or about
specific populations of students, or about specific elements of a student’s
behavior?
2. Determine the purpose - To assess specific needs and offer recommendations? To
assess satisfaction with an office overall or a specific aspect of the
program/service? To assist in Program Prioritization efforts?
3. Determine where to get the information needed – Students, faculty, staff, parents,
existing data, Institutional Research, etc.
4. Determine what kinds of information you need to gather –
Quantitative/qualitative/mixed-methods, formative vs. summative, direct vs.
indirect, etc.
5. Determine whom to study - All students? All students who have used a
department’s services? All residence hall students? First-year students?
6. Determine how data will be collected – Focus groups, rubrics, survey (paper and
pencil or web-based), interviews, open forums, document analysis, etc.
7. Determine what instruments will be used – Locally produced, nationally or
regionally produced, etc.
8. Determine who should collect data – Committee members, an outside research
group, a group of departmental staff, an individual, etc.
9. Determine how data will be analyzed – Outside evaluator/statistician, current staff,
specific statistical tests, qualitative data analysis (e.g. coding), etc.
10. Determine the implications – How can we use this information to improve practice?
Who could be effected and how? How might findings and decisions be interpreted
by stakeholders?
11. Report the results effectively – To whom should results be reported and when? In
what format should results be shared? Don’t forget about sharing back to students!
a. This will also include a 1-2 page Summary of Results which will be
submitted to Assessment & Enrollment Analysis. See Needs/Satisfaction
Assessment Timeline for more details.
Common Topics/Indicators for Needs & Satisfaction Assessments
 Direct Measures
o Tangible features of services, programs or facilities: office hours; timing of
events; availability of services; appearance of physical facilities,
equipment, and communication materials.
o Intangible features of services, programs or facilities, for example student
perceptions
o Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service/program dependably
and accurately, reliability of staff, consistency of service, etc.
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o Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt
service.
o Staff: Possession of the required skills and knowledgeable to perform the
service, politeness, respect, consideration, friendliness, empathy,
trustworthiness, believability, honesty of the service provider,
approachability and ease of contact, communication.
 Indirect Measures
o Total Quality Management: Specific to satisfaction assessment; Improving
the performance of an entire institution with a focus on enhancing
systems. If the systems improve, so will student satisfaction. (E.g. use
available data like the number of students attending programs).
o Persistence: Measure student/groups of students year to year until
graduation. Institution information can be found at registrar’s office or
research office. Do students persist year to year?
o Participation Rates: Tracking of who attends programs, uses of services
and facilities. What is the rate of participation? Are their trends?
o Programs: Who is offering them and how many?
o Spending patterns: Where and how do students spend their money? If
student are spending their money off campus, find out why.
o Membership recruitment and retention: Are student groups meeting the
needs of students? Are there participation rates in these organizations
high? Find out what they are doing to keep members.
o Student newspapers: Articles and letters to the editor can often be a
starting point when determining student satisfaction and needs. What
campus issues appear in the stories, editorials, and letters? What is their
tone, etc.?
o Institutional databases/Data Collection: Can help direct assessment
efforts, though information from institutional sources is often incomplete to
answer the specific questions in a needs & satisfaction assessment.
Specific Considerations:
 While one can assess an entire department/office’s programs and services, it is
generally better to focus your topic as much as possible. Focusing the topic makes
you identify what you really need to know so you are more likely to utilize that
information to inform change. Frequently assessment topics focus on new
programs/services, a different way of implementing an existing program or
process, shifting priorities, and areas with expected budgeting changes.
 When conducting needs & satisfaction assessment, you should always remember
that students may not always know what they need to know.
 This needs & satisfaction assessment must be of the student population and
specifically address needs, including unmet needs, as well as satisfaction.
References
Schuh, J. H. & Upcraft, M. L. (2001). Assessment practice in student affairs. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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