[BiO BB] Bioinformatics (potential) needs assessment form?

[Dan Bolser]

Thanks very much for this information. I agree that interviews are the
best way to serve an actual group of users (instead of a generic
hypothetical group). However, I was looking for a generic form that I
could taylor given my specific knowlage (based on beging around these guys
for the last 2 years).

A generic form could have several 'modules' to cover different lines of
experimantal research, and could be used as a template to get things off
the ground quickly.

For example, one section (or 'module') could specifically address the need
for further discussion and interviews. That way you could target your
interviews to those people who are most likely to benifit from
them. Perhaps...

I definatly agree with what you have put below, but I am lazy (this isn't 
really my job anyway), and I would find a form or questionnaire much more
appealing (in the short term).

I know this isn't a good advert for good practice, but I do think that a
well structured form could go a long way to quickly gathering good (but
not the best) information in a fraction of the time and with a
fraction of the effort.

What do you think?

Thanks again,
Dan.

On Wed, 18 Aug 2004, Joe Landman wrote:

>Hi Dan:
>
>  A real needs assessment tends to be an interview.  You might be able 
>to do a set of interviews to get a better understanding of  what 
>questions to put into your poll.
>
>  The needs assessments vary depending upon the target group and their 
>problems.   A single poll might not capture the necessary details. 
>
>  Needs assessments are critical to my companies business, as we need to 
>understand our customers computational problems.  I would think that a 
>similar approach might work here, though it is usually hard to condense 
>everything into a single document before the interview.  You might try 
>several sample interviews, see where they take you, and then refine it.  
>Iterate until you are satisfied.
>
>Joe
>
>Dan Bolser wrote:
>
>>Hi, 
>>
>>Has anyone ever done a survey of bioinformatics needs for an
>>experimentalist (molecular biology) community?
>>
>>I need to survey the (potential) bioinformatics needs of a group of
>>experimentalists with a wide range of bioinformatics knowledge (from 'some
>>in-depth specialist' through 'general' to 'none').
>>
>>Ideally I would like to capture both what is currently being used, and
>>what would be really useful if it were being used. 
>>
>>The problem is in the last case people may not know what could potentially
>>be helpful. i.e. they need training and/or the form needs to be
>>educational (gulp).
>>
>>I would be very grateful if someone could point me at a stock form, and I
>>would be more than willing to help try to create such a stock form from
>>the condensed knowledge of this community.
>>
>>Thanks very much for any assistance,
>>
>>Dan.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>BiO_Bulletin_Board maillist  -  BiO_Bulletin_Board at bioinformatics.org
>>https://bioinformatics.org/mailman/listinfo/bio_bulletin_board
>>  
>>
>
>
>