This tool is designed to help you decide among three methods of gathering additional information about the needs and audiences for the interactive program you are developing. The three options for collecting information included in this tool are qeustionnaire, interview, and focus group.

Once you are ready to use the decision aid, follow these steps:

1. Consider your options for gathering information about the needs and audiences for your program, namely, questionnaires, interviews, or focus groups. It is assumed that you have considered their defining characteristics and weighed their advantages and disadvantages.

2. Answer the questions presented in the decision aid before making a final choice.

3. Consider collecting information with more than one method if time and resources allow. For example, a questionnaire can be used to collect some baseline information about needs. Then, either interviews or focus groups can be used to collect more detailed information. Alternatively, interviews or focus groups can be used to define the issues involved in audience characteristics, and a questionnaire can be used to confirm or refine the issues.

Answer these questions to help yourself arrive at a decision regarding the type of instrument you will use to collect needs assessment data:

1. Is anonymity of the respondent important?

   If YES, go to question 3.

   If NO, go to question 2.

2. Is the ability to ask new, unanticipated questions important?

   If YES, go to question 4.

   If NO, go to question 3.

3. Do you need the information right away (in less than two to four weeks)?

   If YES, go to question 7.

   If NO, you should use a mailed questionnaire that can be returned anonymously by the respondents.

4. Is it difficult to meet with the respondents face to face?

   If YES, you should use a telephone or e-mail interview.

   If NO, go to question 5.

5. Can the respondents give you as much sixty minutes of their time?

   If YES, you should use a focus group.

   If NO, go to question 6.

6. Can the respondents give you as much as thirty minutes of their time?

   If YES, you should use a person-to-person or telephone interview.

   If NO, go to question 7.

7. Can respondents be reached via e-mail or fax?

   If YES, you should distribute a questionnaire via e-mail or fax with instructions on how the respondents can respond anonymously.

   If NO, you should use a mailed questionnaire that can be returned anonymously by the respondents. You may have to use express mail services both ways to speed up the process.

• is a paper document that presents a set of questions to which a person responds,
• can be anonymous or the person responding can identify him or herself in some way,
• can be mailed to the respondent directly or indirectly (some questionnaires are sent to specific people by name; others are sent to types of people such as nurses or teachers without identifying specific individuals),
• can have several different types of questions, e.g., multiple choice or open-ended, and
• can vary in length, but should rarely take more than ten to fifteen minutes of a person's time.

Questionnaire Advantages:

1. Questionnaires are especially useful when the respondents must remain anonymous. They can be distributed and returned in ways that respondents can feel confident that their identities are secure.

2. Questionnaires can be an efficient means of collecting information from the point of view of the respondents. Questionnaires should be brief so that respondents spend no more than ten to fifteen minutes completing them.

3. Different forms of questionnaires can be distributed to different audiences. This strategy is particularly useful when you have a large pool of potential respondents and a lot of questions to ask about the audience. Through a process called "matrix sampling" you can ask some of the respondents to respond to one part of the questionnaire and other respondents to respond to another part of the questionnaire.

4. There are many different types of questions that can be included in a questionnaire. Some popular types of questions (or items) include:
   1. open-ended, e.g.,
      What is the type of documentation to which you most frequently refer with an interactive program of this kind?

   2. multiple-choice, e.g.,
      Which is your least preferred source of information about a new program?
      __ On-line documentation __ Paper Documentation __ interactive multimedia

   3. ratings or rankings, e.g.,
      Rank order the following sources from 1 (most effective) to 4 (least effective).
      __ On-line documentation __ Paper Documentation __ interactive multimedia __ Training Seminar

   4. Likert-scale, e.g.,
      My preferred sources for new product information is a hypermedia program that I can use on my own personal computer at home or in the office.
      __Strongly Agree __Agree __No Opinion __Disagree __Strongly Disagree

Questionnaire Disadvantages:

1. Questionnaires are relatively easy to design, but good questionnaires represent a significant investment in time and expertise to prepare.

2. Questionnaires can take considerable time to distribute, process, analyze, and report.

3. Questionnaires are not as flexible as interviews or focus groups. The latter permit the exploration of unanticipated issues whereas questionnaires usually only provide information directly related to the specific questions included in them.

4. Many people are reluctant to respond to questionnaires and response rates of forty percent or lower are not unusual.

• is a set of questions (usually called a protocol) that is asked by one person to another,
• can be conducted face-to-face in person, over a telephone, or via e-mail,
• can be anonymous or the person being interviewed can identify him or herself in some way,
• can have several types of questions, although generally open-ended questions are preferred,
• can vary in length, but should rarely take more than thirty minutes of a person's time.

Interview Advantages:

1. Interviews are especially useful when there is a need to explore issues of an undefined nature or considerable complexity. This is because interviews can be modified "on the fly" to explore unanticipated issues.

2. Interviews can be used to gather information in a relatively brief period of time. Interviews should not take more than thirty minutes per respondent. A skilled interviewer can collect useful data from a dozen respondents in a day.

3. Interviews can be modified from one respondent to another. For example, if one respondent brings up an unanticipated issue, a new question can be added to the interview protocol that will allow the next respondent to confirm or disconfirm the issue.

4. Interviews can help you develop a personal empathy with the audiences for your programs.

Interview Disadvantages:

1. Interviews can be threatening, even intimidating for some respondents.

2. In a person-to-person interview, people may tend to provide the information they think you want instead of what they really feel.

3. Depending on the nature of the similarities between the interviewer and the interviewee, the answers to questions can be negatively or positively biased.

4. Interviews can be difficult to schedule, especially person-to-person interviews. Even telephone interviews can be difficult to set-up with busy people.

• is a set of questions that is asked by one person to a small group of people,
• is usually conducted in person,
• can vary in size, although four to seven people are considered optimal,
• can be anonymous, but often the people in the focus group are identified either formally (first and last names) or informally (first names only),
• can vary in length, but should rarely last more than an hour.

Focus Group Advantages:

1. Focus groups are especially useful when there is a need to explore issues of an undefined nature or considerable complexity. This is because focus group protocols can be modified "on the fly" to explore unanticipated issues.

2. Focus groups are especially effective in helping respondents deal with complex or controversial issues that one person may be unable or unwilling to explore. In some cases, a group of respondents can bounce ideas and issues off each other and reach a consensus about the nature of a problem or issue.

3. The protocols for focus groups can be sharply defined or very open.

4. Focus groups can help you develop a personal empathy with the audiences for your programs.

1. Focus groups can time-consuming to set-up and carry out.

2. If members of a focus group vary widely in status or position, there may be a reluctance on the part of some respondents to participate fully.

3. Depending on the nature of the similarities between the interviewer and the members of the focus group, the answers to questions can be negatively or positively biased.

4. Focus groups can be difficult to schedule, especially if management support is not strong.

Henerson, M. E., Morris, L. L., & Fitz-Gibbon, C. T. (1987). How to measure attitudes. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Krueger, R. A. (1988). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Morgan, D. L. (Ed.). (1993). Successful focus groups: Advancing the state of the art. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Patton, M. Q. (1987). How to use qualitative methods in evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.