Access Type
Open Access Dissertation
Date of Award
January 2016
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Instructional Technology
First Advisor
guerra-lopez Guerra-Lopez
Abstract
This study explores the prevalence of key tasks of Needs Assessment (NA) and the factors that impacted the conduct of each task as perceived by Human Performance Improvement (HPI) practitioners. The study is motivated by two research questions: (1) What is the frequency of using each key NA task by HPI practitioners? (2) What are the factors that impact the use of each key NA task as they are perceived by HPI practitioners? Four tasks were identified as key tasks of NA, and six factors were determined to be examined as related to each key task in terms of two variables: (a) the provision/possession of each factor while performing each task, and (b) the importance of each factor to perform each task as it should be. The identification of the four key tasks was based on reviewing and analyzing seven seminal models of NA, and the six factors were determined based on one well known model in the field of HPI, the Behavior Engineering Model (BEM). Literature on NA has lack of empirical studies that focus on comparing and contrasting different NA models in terms of the tasks/steps used for conducting NA, the prevalence of using each task by HPI practitioners, and the factors that impact the use of each task. Therefore, the main purpose of the current study was to contribute in closing this gap in literature. An online survey was used for collecting data form HPI practitioners. The findings from the research show that the four key NA tasks were noticeably prevalent, the overall ranking of the six factors shows that three factors were ranked as the most important ones to all tasks: Motives, Instruments, and Knowledge. Additionally, there were no notable differences in terms of how each factor impacted each task, so each individual factor had the same level of importance to all tasks. This study helps practitioners and organizations to managing and controlling the consumption of essential resources needed for any project by advancing the understanding of the key tasks of NA and the factors impacting human performance.
Recommended Citation
Alzahrani, Hasan, "The Prevalence Of Key Needs Assessment Tasks As Perceived By Human Performance Improvement Practitioners" (2016). Wayne State University Dissertations. 1620.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1620