Perhaps the most difficult parts of starting a community needs assessment planning process are defining the problem concept and making sure the right people are in the room for those discussions. Because their interests are at stake, these right people are needed to form the needs assessment committee (NAC) for tackling the problem analysis. Our public problems are often big—very big!
And, we cannot solve the whole problem in one pass. The resources required are often impossible to muster. Also, the impetus for developing understanding and etiology of the social condition and measurement of the problem concept is imperative for determining the scope of the needs-based situational analysis. In reality, we need to narrow our definition of what we can accomplish to ensure that what we tackle is something that is doable and realistic.
Similarly, not having the right people in the room for the discussion is as bad as trying to address a problem that is too big. The public is not just a homogeneous mass; different interest groups have differing perspectives depending on the issue. What serves one group hurts another. For example, the appropriate uses of scarce water may differ if you are sitting in the chairs of agricultural interests, environmentalists, recreational water use enthusiasts, and government water districts.
Missing one of these groups in the room means that the project can be perceived as closed and slanted in terms of decision making. Understanding how to involve the right people and even identifying them in the first place is a component to the successful kick-off of a needs assessment project. All of these thus point to gaining the understanding of the methodology used in conceptualizing the framework of a community needs assessment project.
The framework for conceptualizing community needs assessment can be initiated at four levels of operationalizing the definition of the problem concept: normative need, felt or perceived need, expressed need, and comparative or relative need. The definition of the problem concept is thus the precursor for identifying and understanding the situational analysis framework (SAF) of the need, and the methodologies used in determining at which level of measurement of the need can be identified.
OBJECTIVES
To successfully complete this learning unit, you will be expected to:
1. Demonstrate understanding of the situational analysis framework of the need and methodology used in measuring the problem concept.
2. Define the problem concept operationally as a precursor for determining at which levels of measurement of the needs can be identified.
3. Compare the conceptualization of community needs assessment project’s framework for process effectiveness and stakeholder representation.
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