Creation of a New Needs Assessment Questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to create an instrument to measure four social needs: achievement, affiliation, autonomy, and dominance. Although an instrument exists (i.e., the Manifest Needs Questionnaire [MNQ], R. M. Steers and D. N. Braunstein, 1976), numerous studies have reported problematic internal consistency of the scale scores. A 60-item instrument, consisting of the 20 MNQ items and 40 new items, was administered to 476 undergraduates. Based on the factor analysis results, the 20-item Needs Assessment Questionnaire (NAQ) was created. Internal consistency estimates were higher for the NAQ scores than for the MNQ scores in the creation and confirmation samples. Evidence of the scale's test–retest reliability is provided. Additional data collected from 203 undergraduates and 401 workers provided support for the validity of the scale for these populations.