Desk analysis

Desk research refers to the extensive study of existing written documents that provide information related to our topic. These written sources provide the so-called ‘secondary data’, that is, information gathered for other purposes than immediate or first application. Secondary data sources include census reports, previous studies, (research) reports, monographs, (Internet) data-bases, media surveys, administrative records, and all other types of written documents from which we might get clarifications regarding the problem at hand.

Census reports. These data provide aggregate international, national, and community statistics on important sectors such as population, housing, edu-cation, health, and labour, as well as on the demographic characteristics of the target group (see, for instance, the 2010 Eurostat International Labour Force Survey). Census data are a rich source of information about people’s political and legal groupings. These data can be summarised and compared in ten-year intervals to illustrate trends in people’s personal, social, and eco-nomic characteristics. If census data are recent, they can be used to identify general areas of concern in the community and should serve as a good

start-61 ing point for assessing needs. For example, if a high percentage of the popu-lation at a certain age is unemployed and without a qualification, this points to a need for training and qualification. These statistics can also provide data about market size and structure.

Every national institute of statistics provides such data. Eurostat, the cor-responding institute at the European level, develops methodologies for assur-ing the comparability of data by runnassur-ing the same research in all EU Member States, providing reference data sources for all policy documents and reports.

In a similar way, such data are available at the regional and local levels, and specialised institutions provide their census reports on a regular basis (em-ployment offices, for example, keep up-to-date records about the dynamics of the job market). Such data are available on the Internet, or they can be ob-tained directly from the source.

Previous studies. These reports include studies done on groups as well as individuals. Although the issues studied may not be exactly the same as those of the needs assessment, there is always a chance that another development agency has been involved with similar kinds of issues. Such secondary,

‘ready-made’ data can be easily used, even though the programme planners often ignore them, confusing the specificity of the data with accuracy. For in-stance, if an extensive study investigating the interests of the whole commu-nity in attending courses at a people’s university in a neighbouring town is available, the same institution in a different town can use these findings stead of conducting another (expensive) investigation, just for the sake of in-vestigating its own community. Not only can these studies be useful, they of-ten provide the most efficient and effective strategy for assessing needs when time and resources are a factor.

Research reports are a special type of expert data source, providing inter-pretations of the data along with the methodology used for collecting them.

Such previous studies, even if they have been done for comparative, amelio-rative, or prospective purposes, are valuable sources. The studies published on the Eurydice, OECD, CEDEFOP, and UNESCO portals, or on other rele-vant international organisations’ websites, are important reference materials for any practitioner and specialist in adult education. For instance, a prospec-tive (Delphi) study (see www.qf2teach.eu – a project coordinated by the German Institute for Adult Education, running such research between 2009 and 2011) on the competencies practitioners will need in ten years’ time is useful information when designing professional development courses for this group.

As a first step in needs assessment, local libraries and archives should be searched. The time spent in libraries finding, reading, copying, and searching

digital databases or other available materials is usually thought of as the core task of desk research. The key skill needed for effective desk research is

‘finding sources and recognising their relevance’ (Birn, 2003, p.18). When searching for previous studies, one should not forget about non-conventional sources of reading materials such as government departments, NGOs, and other local development agencies. Most organisations of any size collect in-formation from a range of sources and a variety of purposes. Such in-house sources should be known before going anywhere else.

The in-depth monograph study is a special type of report, which is not always available, as substantial funding and resources are required to design and conduct such a study. If a monograph study does exist, however, it is a rich source of qualitative data, identifying the relative and perceived needs of a community, its traditions and mentalities, as well as its history. Such re-ports are good for providing expert opinions regarding the problems and prospects upon which needs assessments could be based.

Online databases. Searching online is increasingly becoming the most common way of gathering information. Online databases are a quick, cheap, and easy-to-access source of all kinds of information, specialised or public, often featuring tools for storing and structuring information, keeping records, and so forth. The benefits of searching electronically with the help of key-words are enormous: it saves a huge amount of time and work that could oth-erwise not even be afforded.

Product details. Desk research sources on product details include adver-tising brochures (e.g. about the programmes at other institutions), flyers, re-view articles, virtual learning platforms, newsletters, advertising campaigns, (learning) resource packages, DVDs, and the like. Performing a content analysis of such products can provide a large spectrum of information.

Media news. Press articles (e.g. about major investments plans likely to produce a need for employment-related competencies), advertisements (about available jobs, or about the offers of competitors), articles in specialised re-views (e.g. with news about other technologies and related needs for continu-ing professional development), press reviews (of specialised books), and in-terviews (e.g. with community leaders) are valuable sources of inspiration.

They help the desk researcher find out about needs indirectly, and to stay up to speed with the evolution of needs and possible solutions for fulfilling them.

Administrative records and reports. Both government and non-govern-ment organisations maintain records on their activities. Most organisations also publish their activities on a quarterly or annual basis. When accessible, relevant organisational records and reports should be perused as one source

63 of data for assessing needs. For instance, the activity reports of the (national) employment office can show the extent to which different active labour mar-ket measures are used (e.g. training courses for unemployed individuals), as well as the number of trained unemployed adults per type of course. The an-nual report of the ministry of education is another rich source of information.

The so-called ‘progress reports’ towards achieving the Lisbon targets are a special type of report, published by the European Commission (for the most recent one, see European Commission, 2011), featuring comparisons of Member States’ and the Union’s performance versus their global competitors as the main indicators and benchmarks.

Policy documents. As sources of normative needs (and of expressed needs, used as arguments for introducing new stipulations or policy meas-ures), policy documents set the market demand, as well as the frame for ful-filling the addressed needs. They set developmental trends and a framework for provisions by suggesting policy measures and methodologies of imple-mentation; they create needs, but often stipulate ways of fulfilling them with the help of the support mechanisms proposed.

Desk research can be also needed for supporting the use of other me-thods. For instance, significant desk work is needed to combine the contacts found in various sources, or for compiling probability samples from pub-lished lists.

Regardless of whether we use service statistics (as a reference for ex-pressed needs) or resource inventories (for normative needs), or whether we extrapolate from existing studies (which might explain perceived or relative needs, or even identify respondents’ perception of need, or identify barriers to participation), desk-researched data are not infallible. It is up to the expertise and professional judgment of programme planners to evaluate the credibility and relevance of sources and data, especially if they have to pay for getting access to data presented in certain studies and reports. Sometimes, expert and professional judgment might guide the evaluation of the credibility and rele-vance of the sources. Such specialists are likely to be most familiar with ex-isting surveys and relevant research in their area of expertise, and are usually in the position to propose specific strategies and to suggest reasonable levels of intervention and service provision. However, expert judgment also has its subjective limits.

The obvious advantage of desk analysis is the availability and accessi-bility of data. It is clearly more economical in terms of resources and time to rely on existing data than to collect new data using special surveys. Needs as-sessment based on available data, however, requires a critical analysis of the data, which, after all, were collected for other purposes. The main limitation

concerns the credibility of the data and the fact that the real problem might be minimised, as discussed above.