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An expanded model of community assessment: A case study
Author(s) -
Innes Robert B.,
Heflinger Craig Anne
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(198907)17:3<225::aid-jcop2290170305>3.0.co;2-5
Subject(s) - stakeholder , focus group , knowledge management , service (business) , data collection , information needs , quality (philosophy) , service model , public relations , computer science , business , sociology , political science , marketing , world wide web , social science , philosophy , epistemology
A model is presented for assessing social service needs on the local community level. The model expands existing definitions of community needs assessment to include six phases: (a) defining the parameters and constituents, (b) identifying the information needs and common values among these constituencies, (c) integrating and translating research knowledge from the social sciences, (d) developing procedures for gathering specific information for decision making, (e) gathering and organizing community‐level information (e.g., secondary data), and (f) presenting information to the constituent groups. This model is designed to improve the quality of social service decisions by promoting the effective use of social science research knowledge in community decision making and promoting consensus and cooperation among local stakeholder groups through a direct focus on values. A case study is presented that illustrates the implementation of the model in an assessment of the need for day care services for young children.