1911
Taylor, Frederick Winslow (1911), The Principles of Scientific Management, New York, NY, USA and London, UK: Harper & Brothers
1954
Abraham Maslow introduces a hierarchy of needs, which popularizing the concept of needs being more than just those things that people could not live without.
Maslow, Abraham. (1954) Motivation and personality. Harper and Row New York, New York.
1956
James, Bernard. “Can Needs Define Educational Goals?” Adult Education 6 (1956), 95-100.
1966
Corrigan, R. E., & Kaufman, R. (1966). Why System Engineering. Palo Alto, CA: Fearon Publishers.
1967
Gilbert, T. (1967). Praxeonomy: A systematic approach to identifying training needs. Management of Personnel Quarterly; 6, 3; pg. 20
1969
Bertalanffy, L. von, (1969). General System Theory. New York: George Braziller.
1970
Mager, R. & Pipe, P. (1970). Analyzing Performance Problems, or You Really Oughta Wanna. Belmont, CA: Lake Publishing Co.
Lessinger, L. M. (1970). Every Kid A Winner. New York: Simon & Schuster.
1972
Kaufman, R. A. (1972). Educational System Planning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc. (Also Planificacion de Systemas Educativos [translation of Educational System Planning]). Mexico City: Editorial Trillas, S.A., 1973).
Bradshaw J. (1972) “A taxonomy of social need.” in McLachlan G (ed.) Problems and progress in medical care. Seventh series NPHT/Open University Press.
1975
Harless, J. H. (1975). An ounce of analysis is worth a pound of objectives. Newnan, Georgia: Harless Performance Guild.
Branson, R. K., et al. (1975:Aug.). Interservice procedures for instructional systems development (Phases I, II, III, IV, V, and Executive Summary. U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Pamphlet 350. Fort Monroe, VA.
English, F. W. & Kaufman, R. (1975). Needs assessment: Focus for curriculum development. Washington, DC: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
1976
The first (and only) National Needs Assessment Conference was held in Oakland, California. The conference was sponsored by the National Institute of Education and the International Society of Educational Planners. Described in: Witkin, R.B. (1976). Needs Assessment: State of the Art. Educational Planning. 3(2), 1-5.
Kaufman, R. (1976). Identifying & Solving Problems: A system approach. San Diego, CA: University Associates Publishers. Kaufman, R., & English, F. W. (1976). Needs Assessment: A Guide for Educational Managers. Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators.
Kaufman, R. (1976). System approaches to education. In S. E. Goodman (Ed.), Handbook on contemporary education, 107 113. New York: R. R. Bowker Co. (Xerox Educational Corporation).
Kaufman, R. (1976). Organizational improvement: A review of models and an attempted synthesis. Group and Organization Studies, 1(4), 474-495.
1977
Burton, J. K. & Merrill, P. F. (1977). Needs assessment: Goals, needs and priorities. In L. J. Briggs (Ed.) Introduction to Instructional Design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
Monette, Maurice L. “The Concept of Educational Need: An Analysis of Selected Literature.” Adult Education 27 (1977), 116-27.
Kaufman, R. (1977). Needs assessment: Internal and external. Journal of Instructional Development, 1(1), 5-8. (Also reprinted in Revista de Tecnologia Educativa, No. 1, Vol. 3, 1977).
1978
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Gilbert, T. (1978) Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1979
Kaufman, R., & English, F. W. (1979). Needs assessment: Concept and Application. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
Kaufman, R. (1979). Identifying and Solving PRob
Maurice L. Monette (1979). 
Need Assessment: a Critique of Philosophical Assumptions. Adult Education Quarterly 29; 83
1981
Kaufman, R. (1981). Determining and diagnosing organizational needs. Group and Organizational Studies, 6(3), 312-322.
1982
Zemke, R., & Kramlinger, T. (1982). Figuring Things Out: A trainer’s guide to needs and task analysis. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.
1983
Kaufman, R. and Stone, B. (1983). Planning for Organizational Success: A practical guide. New York:Wiley.
Lareau, L. (1983). Needs Assessment of the Elderly: Conclusions and Methodological Approaches. The Gerontologist. 23 (5): 518-526.
Kaufman, R. (1983). Needs assessment. In F. W. English (Ed.), Fundamental Curriculum Decisions. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervisory and Curriculum Development.
Ulschak, F. (1983). Human Resource Development: The theory and practice of needs assessment. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing.
1985
Sen, A. (1985). Commodities and Capabilities. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Corrigan, R. E., & Corrigan, Betty O. (1985). SAFE: System approach for effectiveness. New Orleans, LA: R. E. Corrigan Associates.
1987
Rossett, A. (1987). Training needs assessment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publishing Co.
Johnson, D., Meiller, L., Miller, L. & Summers, G. (1987), Needs assessment: Theory and methods. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Thomson, G. (1987). Needs. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
1988
Kaufman, R. (1988). Planning educational systems: A results based approach. Lancaster, PA & Basil, Switzerland: Technomic Publishing Co
1989
Robinson, D. G. Robinson, J. C. (1989). Training for impact: How to link training to business needs and measure the results. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ostroff, C. & Ford, J.K (1989) Assessing Training Needs: Critical Levels of Analysis. In I. L. Goldstein, (Ed.),Training and Development in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Gilbert, T. F., & Gilbert, M. B. (1989, Jan.). Performance engineering: Making human productivity a science. Performance & Instruction.
1990
Rummler, G. A. & Brache, A. P. (1990) Improving performance: How to manage the white space on the organization chart. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
1991
Darraugh, B. (1991). It takes (six-step model for needs assessment). Training & Development Journal, v45, n3, p21(3)
1992
Kaufman, R. (1992). Strategic planning plus. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
Banathy, B. H. (1992). A systems view of education: Concepts and principles for effective practice. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
1993
Kaufman, R., Rojas, A., & Mayer, H. (1993). Needs assessment: A user’s guide. Englewood Cliffs, NJ., Educational Technology
1994
Witkin, B. R. (1994). Needs Assessment Since 1981: The State of the Practice. Evaluation Practice, 15 (1), 17-27.
1995
Witkin, B. R., & Altschuld, J. W. (1995). Planning and conducting needs assessments: A practical guide.Sage Publications; Thousand Oaks, CA.
1996
Watkins, R. & Kaufman, R. (1996: Nov.). An Update on Relating Needs Assessment and Needs Analysis. Performance Improvement, 35 (10), 10-13.
Triner, D.,Greenberry, A. and Watkins, R. (1996). Training Needs Assessment: A Contradiction in Terms. Educational Technology, 36(6), 51-55.
1997
Endacott, R. (1997). Clarifying the concept of need: a comparison of two approaches to concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25, 471-476.
1998
Watkins, R., Leigh, D. And Kaufman, R. (1998). Needs Assessment: A digest, review, and comparison of needs assessment literature. Performance Improvement Journal, 37(7), 40-53.
Kaufman, R. (1998). Strategic thinking: A guide to identifying and solving problems, Revised Ed. Washington, D.C. & Arlington, VA: The International Society for Performance Improvement.
Harless, J. (1998). The Eden Conspiracy: Educating for Accomplished Citizenship. Wheaton, IL: Guild V Publications.
2003
Kaufman, R., Oakley-Brown, H., Watkins, R., and Leigh, D. (2003). Strategic planning for success: Aligning people, performance, and payoffs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Watkins, R., and Wedman, J. (2003). A process for aligning performance improvement resources and strategies. Performance Improvement Journal, 42(7), 9-17.
Hamilton, L. A. (2003). The Political Philosophy of Needs. Cambridge.
2005
Reader, S. (ed.) (2005), The Philosophy of Need, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2006
Kaufman, R. (2006). 30 Seconds That Can Change Your Life: A Decision-Making Guide for Those Who Refuse to be Mediocre. Amherst, MA: HRD Press.
Kaufman, R. (2006). Change, Choices, and Consequences: A Guide to Mega Thinking and Planning. Amherst, MA. HRD Press Inc.
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2007
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Watkins, R. (2007). Performance By Design: The systematic selection, design, and development of performance technologies that produce useful results. Amherst, Ma:HRD Press and Silver Spring, Md:International Society for Performance Improvement.
2008
Kaufman, R, & Guerra-Lopez, I. (2008) The Assessment Book: Applied Strategic Thinking and Performance Improvement Through Self-assessments. Amherst, MA. HRD Press Inc.
2009
Watkins, R. and Leigh, D. (Eds.) (2009). The Handbook of Improving Performance in the Workplace – Volume 2: Selecting and Implementing Performance Interventions. San Francisco: Wiley-Jossey/Bass and Silver Spring, MD: ISPI.
2010
Altschuld, J. W. (2010). The Needs Assessment KIT. (ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. [5 volume series]
Altschuld, J. W. (2010). The Needs Assessment KIT. (ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. [5 volume series]
Moore, S. (2010). Ethics by Design: Strategic Thinking and Planning for Exemplary Performance, Responsible Results, and Societal Accountability. Amherst, MA. HRD Press.
2012
Watkins, R., West-Meiers, M., & Visser, Y. (2012). A guide to assessing needs: Tools for collecting information, making decisions, and achieving development results. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Available for free online at NeedsAssessment.org or through the World Bank.
2014
Altschuld, J.W. (2014) Bridging the Gap between Asset/Capacity Building and Needs Assessment: Concepts and Practical Applications. Sage Publications; Thousand Oaks, CA.
Altschuld, J.W. and Watkins, R. EdS (2014). Special Issue: Needs Assessment: Trends and a View Toward the Future. New Directions in Evaluation (an Amer. Eval. Assoc. publication). This special issue of the journal includes eight original articles on needs assessment.