One of a series of instructional booklets designed to introduce adult education program planners to the basic concepts integral to and alternative strategies for conducting needs assessments, this instructional booklet deals with determining how to interpret information. Described first is the relationship of the process of determining how to interpret information to the entire needs assessment process. Following an introduction to the concept of force, procedures are set forth for identifying positive and negative forces that bear significant strength in impacting needs. Also provided are suggestions for determining sources of force information, determining strategies for gathering force information, and determining methods for summarizing force information. (MN)