Community Needs Survey
Community Needs Survey · Years 10–12
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- Investigate a significant question using evidence from multiple sources
- Analyse and evaluate information to form and support a reasoned position
- Connect learning to real-world contexts, including Aotearoa New Zealand settings
- Communicate understanding clearly and accurately for a specific audience
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- I use at least two sources and can evaluate their credibility
- My position is clearly stated and supported by specific evidence
- I can connect my learning to at least one real-world Aotearoa context
- My communication is clear, organised, and appropriate for the audience
Community Needs Survey
🤝 He hapori — understanding and serving our communityAcross Aotearoa, marae committees, iwi social services, local councils, and community organisations conduct needs assessments — surveys that identify the priorities, challenges, and aspirations of the people they serve. The data from these surveys drives decisions about where to build housing, what health services to fund, which youth programmes to expand, and how to allocate resources across competing needs. Getting the research right matters — a badly designed survey can lead to resources going to the wrong places, or worse, reinforce community invisibility.
Part 1 — He Raraunga Āpōpō: Analysing a Real Community Survey
The following summarises data from a (composite) community needs survey of 240 respondents in a predominantly Māori and Pacific community in South Auckland. Participants ranked their top concerns.
| Community concern | % rating as "very important" | Rank | % dissatisfied with current services |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing affordability / availability | 84% | 1 | 73% |
| Youth employment opportunities | 79% | 2 | 68% |
| Mental health services | 74% | 3 | 81% |
| Access to kaumātua support | 71% | 4 | 44% |
| Environmental / awa health | 69% | 5 | 77% |
| Te reo Māori learning opportunities | 63% | 6 | 55% |
| Affordable healthy food | 61% | 7 | 62% |
| After-school youth activities | 58% | 8 | 49% |
| Transport / public access | 54% | 9 | 58% |
| Digital access / internet | 48% | 10 | 41% |
- Mental health services rank only 3rd in importance, yet have the highest dissatisfaction (81%). What does this "importance-satisfaction gap" tell you about where resources are most urgently needed? Is "most important to community" always the same as "most urgently needing improvement"? Explain.
- Calculate: if 240 people were surveyed and 84% rate housing as "very important," how many people is that? If 73% are dissatisfied with current housing services, what number does this represent?
- The survey shows kaumātua support ranks 4th in importance but has only 44% dissatisfaction — suggesting services are relatively well-regarded. Design ONE additional question you would add to the survey to better understand what kaumātua support is doing well and what gaps remain.
- Prioritisation challenge: If you were a council officer with a budget to fund only THREE of the ten needs above, which would you choose and why? Your decision must be justified using both the "very important %" and the "% dissatisfied" columns together.
Part 2 — He Tikanga Māori ki te Rangahau: Culturally Safe Research
Standard social research methods were not designed with Māori communities in mind. Community research in te ao Māori requires adapting methods to honour tikanga, build trust, and ensure data sovereignty.
🌿 Core Protocols for Māori Community Research
- Karakia (opening/closing prayer): Research sessions on marae or in Māori spaces should open and close with karakia — researchers must learn this, or ask a kaumātua to lead.
- Mihi whakatau (formal welcome): Researchers must introduce themselves and their whakapapa before asking questions. Identity matters before inquiry.
- Whakapapa consent: Before collecting data about a community, researchers must explain who they are connected to, who the data goes to, and how it will be used.
- Data sovereignty: The community owns its own data. Research findings should be returned to the community in accessible form before being published externally.
- Kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face): Online surveys alone are insufficient for deep community research. Face-to-face wānanga (discussion hui) produce richer, more trusted data.
- Vulnerable populations: Extra care with kaumātua, rangatahi in care, and anyone experiencing housing or mental health difficulties — written consent, support persons, opt-out rights.
- Compare these protocols to a standard clinical or government survey approach. List THREE specific ways they differ. Which approach do you think produces more accurate data about Māori community needs? Why?
- Scenario: A government agency has been asked to survey a rural marae community about housing needs. They plan to send a link to a Google Form by email. Identify at least FOUR problems with this approach using the protocols above, and propose a culturally safer alternative method for each problem.
Part 3 — Hoahoa Rangahau: Design Your Own Community Survey
You have been commissioned by your school's student council to design a needs survey for the school community — to identify the top 5 priorities for improvement over the next year. Your audience includes students, teachers, parents, and school support staff.
-
Survey structure: Design a 10-question survey. Include at least:
- 2 demographic questions (role at school, year level)
- 3 rating-scale questions (use 1–5 or 1–10 Likert scale)
- 2 ranking questions (order the priorities that matter most)
- 2 open-ended questions (allow free text responses)
- 1 consent question (at the beginning)
- How will you distribute this survey to ensure all four groups (students, teachers, parents, support staff) respond proportionately? What is the minimum sample size you need from each group to be confident your results represent the broader community?
- Making it culturally inclusive: How will you ensure the survey captures the priorities of Māori and Pacific students specifically, without singling them out or making them feel tokenised? Write a specific design decision that addresses this.
- After the survey: You get 120 responses. 47% of students rate "mental health support" as their top priority; only 8% of teachers do the same. How do you present this data to the principal — whose perspective do you prioritise? Is there a way to honour both? What additional data might help resolve the gap?
🤝 Whakamutunga — He hapori, he rangatiratanga
Communities that understand themselves can advocate for themselves. A well-designed needs survey is an act of rangatiratanga — taking control of the story about your community, rather than letting outside agencies define it. The data you collect, and what you do with it, determines whether research serves the community or extracts from it.
Te wero: Conduct your school survey from Part 3. Collect at least 20 responses, analyse the results, and present a 5-minute summary to your class — including what surprised you, what the data clearly shows, and one recommendation for action.
🌿 Ngā Rauemi Hono — Related Resources
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on your learning. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided
This handout is designed to be used alongside other resources in the same unit. Related materials are linked in the unit planner. All content is provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Materials: This resource can be printed or used digitally. No additional materials required unless specified above.
Differentiation: Provide sentence starters or word banks for students needing scaffold support. Extend capable learners by asking them to research a real NZ example connected to this theme. Support ELL students with vocabulary pre-teaching. Offer entry-level and extension tasks to address a range of readiness levels.
Prior knowledge: Best used after the relevant lesson. Students with prior knowledge of systems and governance will access this more readily; no specialist prior knowledge is required for entry-level engagement.
Curriculum alignment
- Social Studies — Understanding: Students understand how systems thinking helps us analyse complex social, economic, and environmental challenges and identify leverage points for change.