Ask Good Questions by Starting with Key Decisions

The "blurb" on this article reads, "The most effective data-collection efforts build on a clear understanding of the decisions the data should inform." Sure. Deborah Keyek-Franssen and Charlotte Briggs write about this with regard to technology needs assessment, but their lessons learned are useful for all campus responsibilities:

Conducting a campus-wide needs assessment is a lot of work. Starting with clear goals and a good plan vastly increases the probability that the assessment will go smoothly and yield genuinely useful information. Although front-loading your team’s time and energy into the initial planning phase might feel overly bureaucratic or academic, it pays off later when you can return to your overarching decision question and tacit principles as touchstones in moments of disagreement or doubt. Every institution is different—there would be little impetus for needs assessments otherwise—so it’s important to align your plan with your institution’s mission and strategic plan. You also need to be realistic about how technology is viewed in relation to the institution’s identity and aspirations. Planning a needs assessment for an institution that can’t afford to innovate is very different from planning an assessment for an institution that showcases its technology as a prime indicator of its competitiveness.