Which of the following is NOT listed as a method for collecting data in a needs assessment?

• A. Focus groups
• B. Key informant interviews
• C. Using existing instruments
• D. Descriptive statistics

Answer: (D)

The key idea here is telling apart ways to gather information from people from ways we analyze the information after it’s collected. In a needs assessment, data collection methods are how you actually obtain information: talking with people in focus groups, interviewing key informants who have deep knowledge about the population, or using existing instruments—surveys or tools that have been developed and are appropriate for the context. These are the actions you take to get data.

Descriptive statistics, by contrast, are used after data has been collected to summarize and describe what you found—things like frequencies, averages, and measures of variation. They help you understand patterns in the data, but they are not a method for collecting data themselves. So descriptive statistics is the analytical step, not a data-gathering method, which is why it’s not listed as a method for collecting data in a needs assessment.