Scottish Government

Needs Assessment: A Practical Guide to Assessing Local Needs for Services for Drug Users

Chapter 6: Analysing, Interpreting and Drawing Conclusions

Chapters 2-5 have focused on the information-gathering aspects of needs assessment. However, needs assessment is more than an information-collection exercise. Once you have gathered all the information you need, you will have to analyse it, interpret it and draw conclusions. The aim of analysis is to answer the question:

What does all this information tell me about the needs of the target population?

This question can be broken down into the following key questions:

Your analysis and interpretation - that is, your ability to answer these, and other similar questions - should be based directly on the information you gathered in the earlier stages of the needs assessment process. Therefore, as mentioned before, it is important to keep in mind that the use of poor methodology in the information-gathering stages will undermine your ability to develop valid interpretations of the situation. Ultimately, this will affect the quality of the recommendations made to address the needs of your target population.

Who should be involved in analysing and interpreting the information?

The people who gathered the information in the early stages of the needs assessment exercise may not necessarily be those who are in the best position to analyse and interpret it. For example, the analysis of large datasets requires specialised skills and specialised computer software. In addition, data entry, transcription and cleaning must be done to prepare the data for analysis. You may want to get support for these tasks, and arrangements will need to be made in advance. Nevertheless, those who gathered the information in the first place should remain involved in the analysis and interpretation stage, even if merely in an advisory capacity.

As mentioned in Chapter 1, it is important to bear in mind that analysts, in particular, should be involved at the very start of the needs assessment process. More specifically, you should consult with an analyst when designing questionnaires and interview schedules. Remember that most DAAT partners will have a range of analytical expertise "in-house".

Computer software for data analysis

There are a number of software packages used for data analysis. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is commonly used for analysing quantitative data. There are also software packages for analysis of qualitative data, and the use of these packages will require special training.

Report writing, presenting and feeding back results

One of the initial outcomes of a needs assessment exercise is likely to be a written report. The report will be one of the ways in which the findings are communicated to key stakeholders and to those who are in a position to act upon them. The following points may be useful to those responsible for writing and presenting the report:

• Avoid jargon and technical language. It will discourage people from reading.

• Don't assume that the people whom you want to read the report will have the time to do so. Make their lives easier by summarising the main findings briefly and clearly at the beginning of the report.

• Be careful in using graphs, charts and tables to present data. Such pictorial forms of presentation can make your findings much clearer to your reader. However, too many of them, or a confused mixture of them can cause information overload. Save graphs, charts and tables for presenting key findings.

• If possible, offer some analysis of the information - suggesting what you think the results may mean, how they may be misinterpreted, what information the results do not provide and what the broad implications of the results are.

• Always include a Conclusions section in the report. This section should draw together the various disparate findings from the needs assessment into a few coherent messages.

• Whenever possible, suggest some recommendations for ways of addressing the identified needs. It is easier for people to respond to a clear and concise set of recommendations than to draw their own recommendations on the basis of a presentation of results alone. However, be aware that your role is to put forward recommendations in order to provide a basis for discussion. Firm recommendations and the implementation of change will depend on factors that may be outside your control.

• It may also be appropriate to present the report orally. This will allow your readers to ask questions, to explore particular issues in greater depth, and to seek your advice about implementation of the findings.

It is a key principle that the results of the information-gathering process should be relayed back in an appropriate form to those who contributed to that process - including your target population and the service providers and practitioners. Although this process takes time, feeding back in this way is important because many people who participated in the needs assessment will have their own views about what the results might mean. Formal feedback could provide people with the chance to say whether the results are as they would have expected. This can also help extend ownership of the project and assist with the implementation of any resulting decisions. In addition, it is helpful to communicate to people that they have been heard and that their involvement was valued. This could also make people more willing to participate in future needs assessment exercises.