"This valuable guide includes a three-phase model, methods for conducting a needs assessment, and specialized survey and group techniques for data gathering and analysis." --Educator′s Update "Sometimes a book appears on your desk that successfully defines a field. You look at the book and say ′thank you.′ Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments is such a book. . . . This book is clearly grounded in program planning and is not an afterthought or add-on to some other field. . . . I am excited to see this book appear in print. It clearly fills a niche that has been empty for some time: a practical approach to learning about and conducting needs assessments. . . . This is a marvelous book that should make a significant contribution to the field." --From the Foreword by Nick Eastmond, Utah State University "While it has the depth and breadth to be used in a classroom, Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments is written simply and directly enough to be a hands-on guide for needs assessment users and practitioners. The framework proposed by the authors is excellent in that it is readily understood and focuses attention on the most important details/issues in needs assessment practice. The fact that they also present an explanation of so many tools, including examples, makes the book required reading for anyone intending to plan or contract for a needs assessment." --John Theiss, Director of Planning and Evaluation, Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation ". . . . this book is a long-awaited addition to the field of needs assessment: Add it to your collection and use it to plan your next needs assessment assignment." Gail Barrington in The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation Authors Belle Ruth Witkin and James W. Altschuld introduce their three-phase model--preassessment, assessment, and postassessment―in an easily understandable and practical guide. The three-phase model is used to clarify the distinctions among the needs of primary service recipients and resources and the people who exist because of them. Appropriate methods used for gathering data for assessing needs and causal analysis are detailed by the three levels. From the presentation of the framework and the coverage of several techniques for analyzing data to the balanced description of quantitative and qualitative methodologies explored, multiple case studies and examples enable the successful conduct of needs assessments. Practitioners, students, and scholars in the health care, psychology, sociology, education, public administration, and urban planning fields will find this practical guide an invaluable tool for the successful implementation of needs assessment.