How will you assess the needs of your chosen group/market/customer-segment? What measures will you take to ensure that the information you collect is reliable?

This week’s IBD focuses on the aspects of design-thinking and their role for entrepreneurs. After reading previous week’s content on the topic of design-thinking, you are required to think about conducting a needs assessment to identify what people in your community need .
Where can you find local statistics on the people you are interested in? In other words, which authorities/sources possess the data that you need?
What type of data do you wish to collect, and why? How will that data help you identify problems?
How will you assess the needs of your chosen group/market/customer-segment? What measures will you take to ensure that the information you collect is reliable?
What seem to be the current needs of this group/market/customer-segment based on the information available publicly? Please provide clear examples backed by evidence/statistics/citations.