Coastal Services Center

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How to Conduct a Needs Assessment

Description of Course

This two-day workshop introduces coastal management professionals to needs assessments and what it means to conduct one. Needs assessments are critical to developing relevant and effective products and services, including training development. By assessing target audience needs, coastal programs can determine a focus and direction for environmental programming, tools, and services. After attending the workshop, participants will be able to

• Discuss what a needs assessment is and when and why to conduct one
• Identify the steps in planning a needs assessment
• Demonstrate how to characterize an audience
• Select an appropriate method for data collection
• Evaluate the construct of question
• Identify considerations for analyzing and managing data
• Discuss the elements of developing a needs assessment contract
• List the benefits of conducting a needs assessment
• Discuss potential data-sharing opportunities within the region

Prerequisites

None.

On-Line Course

Conducting Needs Assessments

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Go to Coastal Learning Services Web site