Local youth needs assessment
Design and run a lightweight assessment of what young people in your area actually need — and turn it into a board-ready summary.
When to use this project
Use this when you need a quick, credible picture of what young people in your area actually need — before you commit to a programme, bid for funding, or answer a board question about local priorities.
How to use AI in this project
AI does the heavy drafting: it turns your rough goals into a survey, a short interview guide, and — once you have responses — a thematic analysis and a board-ready summary. You stay in charge of who you speak to, how consent is handled, and which findings feel true. Paste real (anonymised) responses in Step 3 rather than letting the model guess.
AI tips for this project
- Always paste real responses into Step 3 — never let the model invent quotes or trends.
- Redact names and identifying details before pasting anything into the AI.
- Ask the model to flag minority views and outliers separately, not just the majority theme.
- Read Step 4 out loud before it goes to the board — if a sentence sounds too polished, rewrite it.
The 4 steps
- 01
Design a lightweight survey
Draft 8–10 questions balancing multiple choice and open-ended. Keep it under 10 minutes to complete.
How to use AI here · Tell the AI who the survey is for (age range, setting), your top 2–3 questions you actually need answered, and any accessibility needs. Ask for 6–8 questions max, plain English, reading age 12. Reject anything that sounds like a marketing survey.- Ask a young person to read it aloud and flag jargon
- Check nothing implies a judgement
- 02
Write a 5-question interview guide
Turn the survey topics into a warm conversation guide for 1:1 chats.
How to use AI here · Give the model the survey findings so far (or hypotheses if none yet) and ask for open, non-leading interview questions. Include one question about what the young person would change and one about what's already working.- Read it as if you are 14
- Check no question could distress someone in crisis
- 03
Thematic analysis of responses
Paste in anonymised responses. Identify 3–5 themes with supporting quotes.
How to use AI here · Paste anonymised responses in a single block. Ask for themes with counts, minority views listed separately, and 3 direct quotes per theme (with source line). Do NOT accept invented quotes — check every one against your source.- Verify quotes match the source verbatim
- Sense-check themes with 1 young person
- 04
Board-ready summary
Turn the themes into a 2-page briefing with 3 prioritised recommendations.
How to use AI here · Ask for a one-page summary: what we heard, three implications for our programme, three things we still don't know. Board-ready means honest — insist on the "still don't know" section.- Trustee lens: would you fund this?
- Youth lens: would you recognise yourself here?