Worksheet 1. Define Your Community
Is your community geographic, organizational, or cultural?
Question 1a
If your community is geographic, then define the boundaries of your
community’s location and describe its size.
Question 1b
Describe your community. What is its culture like? Is it rural or urban? What
kind of climate does it experience? What values, attitudes, and beliefs are most
important? What kind of jobs do people have? Are there dominant religions?
Question 2
Document your community demographics including the total population, the
median age, the percentage of the population in various ethnic groups, the
percentage of the population with specific levels of education, and the median
household income. If important to your community, you may also include the
percentage of your population in each gender category, the percentage of the
population that speaks specific languages, marital status, and other culturally
relevant demographics.
Total population
Median age
Question 3
White
Black
American Indian or Alaskan Native
Asian
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders
Persons reporting two or more races
Hispanic or Latino
Not Hispanic or Latino
Non-high school graduates
High school diploma or equivalent
Some college with no degree
Associate degree
Bachelor’s degree
Master’s degree
Professional degree
Doctorate degree
Median household income
In sum, what makes your community unique?
Question 4
Where did you find the information to answer the above questions?
Question 5
Worksheet 2. Assemble Your Needs Assessment Workgroup
Name
Leader:
Organization
Contribution
Worksheet 3. Detail Your Research Questions
Research Question 1
Research Question 2
Research Question 3
Worksheet 4. Choose Your Data Collection Methods
Types of Data Collection and Reasons to Use Each
Interviews: Select to interview key stakeholders if your
research questions require in-depth knowledge held by a
small number of individuals.
Will you use this
data collection
method in your
community
needs
assessment?
Yes _____
No _____
Focus Groups: Select to conduct focus groups if you are
trying to gain a deeper understanding of an issue or if you
need to learn more about the experiences and knowledge
of a targeted population.
Qualitative
Observations: Select qualitative observation if you want
data that comes from your community and is not filtered
through another mechanism, like a survey or the opinions
of key stakeholders.
Archives: Select qualitative archives if you need historical
information, information on organizations, or information
that is readily available and doesn’t require original
research.
Survey: Select a survey to help answer your research
questions when aggregating individual answers to
questions into numbers helps paint a picture of community
needs.
Quantitative
Observations: Select quantitative observation when counts
of people, behaviors, or objects in your community can
provide context and facts to your needs assessment.
Yes _____
No _____
Yes _____
No _____
Yes _____
No _____
Yes _____
No _____
Yes _____
No _____
Archives: Select quantitative archives if you need an
overall understanding of the community, if you plan to
compare and prioritize separate problems, or if you feel
like some of the data you need already exists.
Yes _____
No _____
Worksheet 5. Identify Key Informants for Interviewing
Name and Position
Organization
Contact Information
(Phone, E-mail and Address)
Worksheet 6. Focus Group Plan
Considering your research questions and your community, what population or
populations is your needs assessment most interested in?
Question 1a
What subgroups exist within this population?
Question 1b
What reasons are there that subgroups, within the populations you are most
interested in, cannot or should not be part of the same group discussion?
Question 1c
What groups of stakeholders or service providers possess specialized
knowledge of the populations you are most interested in?
Question 1d
Based upon your answers to questions 1a through 1d, what specific groups will
you include in your focus group research?
Question 2a
How many focus groups does this mean you will conduct?
Question 2b
What possible locations within your community would be ideal for your focus
groups?
Question 2c
What time of day is most convenient for the specific groups identified in
question 2a above?
Question 2d
Based upon your thoughtful answers above, who will you focus group? Where
will the focus groups take place? And when will you conduct the focus groups?
Summary
Worksheet 7. Qualitative Observation Plan
Considering your research questions and your community, describe what you
will observe for your needs assessment. In other words, what “game” are you
interested in observing?
Question 1a
Who will be conducting the observations? Will there be one individual observer
or more than one? Will you utilize your target population as observers?
Question 1b
Where and when will the observations take place?
Question 1c
Would participant observation or passive observation provide the best
information for answering your research questions?
Question 1d
Is it appropriate to use digital storytelling? If so, what kind will you use?
Question 1e
Based upon your thoughtful answers above, provide the following:
What will be observed?
Who will observe it?
Summary
When will they observe it?
Where will they observe it?
Will they participate in it?
Worksheet 8. Brainstorming Qualitative Archives
Questions
What possible
sources of qualitative
data exist?
Who else might know
of other sources of
qualitative archives?
What criteria will you
use to narrow the list
of archives to just
those that answer
your research
questions?
Notes
Worksheet 9. Choosing a Survey Sample
Describe the population of your community that you would like to make
generalizations about.
Sample Population
Approximately how many individuals are in the population?
Do you have access to every individual in the population?
Do you have a list of your sample population from which to draw a
sample? If yes, describe this list.
Sampling Frame
If you do not have access to everyone, and you do not have a sampling
frame list, what is a convenient way to reach members of the sample
population?
Type of Sample
Based upon your answers to the sampling frame questions above, what
type of sample will you use for your survey (census, random, or
convenience)?
How many completed surveys would you like to have when your survey
is done?
What percentage of those you ask to take a survey do you think will
actually complete the survey (your completion rate)?
Sample Size
Divide the number of completed surveys you would like by your
completion rate (as a decimal) to find out how large your sample should
be.
completed surveys/completion rate as a decimal = sample size
For example
200/.25 = 800
What sample size should you plan for?
If you are using a random sample, then briefly describe how you drew
an appropriate random sample here.
Draw Your Random
Sample
Worksheet 10. Quantitative Survey Plan
Considering your research questions and your community, describe what you
hope to learn from your survey.
Question 1a
Describe the sample population, sampling frame, and sample you plan to use for
your survey.
Question 1b
Describe the methods you will use to collect completed surveys from your
survey population.
Question 1c
Worksheet 11. Quantitative Observation Plan
Considering your research questions and your community, describe what you
will observe for your needs assessment. In other words, what specifically needs
to be counted?
Question 1a
Who will be conducting the observations? Will there be one individual observer
or more than one?
Question 1b
Where and when will the observations take place? How long will the
observation take?
Question 1c
Based upon your thoughtful answers above, provide the following:
What will be observed?
Who will observe it?
Summary
When will they observe it?
Where will they observe it?
How long will they observe it?
Worksheet 12. Brainstorming Quantitative Archives
Questions
What possible
sources of
quantitative data
exist?
Who else might know
of other sources of
quantitative archives?
What criteria will you
use to narrow the list
of archives to just
those that answer
your research
questions?
Notes
Worksheet 13. Qualitative Database
Data Source
Key
informant
interview
with?
Questions
and Other
Details
List
questions
here
Transcription/Quotes/Observations
Notes
Exact answers here
Important notes here
List
questions
here
Exact answers here
Important notes here
Detail
archival
pieces here
Specific quotes here
Important notes here
Detail
things to be
observed
here
Specific observations here
Important notes here
Date, time,
and place of
the interview
Focus group
with?
Date, time
and place of
the focus
group
Archives
from?
Date and
place
collected
Observation
of?
Date, time,
and place of
the
observation
Link to or description of digital
files here
Worksheet 14. Interpretation of Qualitative Data
Interpretive Mode
Description: the story
of what you learned
Explanation: the
reason for the story
One- or Two-Paragraph Summary Embracing Data and Themes
Worksheet 15. Drawing Conclusions from Qualitative Research
Conclusions
Discoveries
Generalizations
Specifically Worded Statements
Worksheet 16. Quantitative Coding Scheme
Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Level of
Measurement
Value Labels
Worksheet 17. Quantitative Databases
A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
Worksheet 18. Frequency Distributions
<FL>Start by listing each measure and its data source for which you need to create a frequency
distribution. I have provided ten rows, but feel free to use fewer or more based upon your
quantitative data collection methods.
Measure
Data Source
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
<FL>Create a frequency distribution for each of the measures listed above based upon the
general format. Column one should list the exhaustive and mutually exclusive categories, and
column two should contain the counts or observations within each category. The final row
provides a place for you to total the number of counts of observations. I have provided eight
possible rows, but feel free to decrease or expand this based upon the number of categories in
each measure.
Category
Frequency
Total
Worksheet 19. Quantitative Analysis Checklist
Measure
Which calculations will you use with each quantitative measure?
Central Tendency _____
Percentages _____
Ratios _____
Rates _____
Range _____
Standard Deviation _____
Confidence Interval _____
Central Tendency _____
Percentages _____
Ratios _____
Rates _____
Range _____
Standard Deviation _____
Confidence Interval _____
Central Tendency _____
Percentages _____
Ratios _____
Rates _____
Range _____
Standard Deviation _____
Confidence Interval _____
Central Tendency _____
Percentages _____
Ratios _____
Rates _____
Range _____
Standard Deviation _____
Confidence Interval _____
Central Tendency _____
Percentages _____
Ratios _____
Rates _____
Range _____
Standard Deviation _____
Confidence Interval _____
Central Tendency _____
Percentages _____
Ratios _____
Rates _____
Range _____
Standard Deviation _____
Confidence Interval _____
Worksheet 20. Interpretation of Quantitative Data
Interpretive Mode
Description: the
numbers describing
what you learned
Explanation: what
these numbers mean
Summarize in numbers or tables what you learned from the quantitative
data analysis, and in a brief paragraph what they mean
Worksheet 21. Drawing Conclusions from Quantitative Research
Conclusions
Discoveries
Generalizations
Specifically Worded Statements
Worksheet 22. Answer Your Research Questions
Restate Research Questions
from Worksheet 3
Brief and Definitive Answers
to Each Research Question
Support for the Answers to
Each Research Question
Elevator Speech