To achieve this, the handbook describes and assesses current criteria for determining the need for judges and court support staff and develops a range of alternative approaches for determining the need for judges and court support staff. Further, it assesses innovative methods used to determine the need for judges and court support staff and also identifies ways to lower costs and ease the burden of conducting judgeship needs and court support staff studies. The balance between quantitative and qualitative methods of assessment is discussed, along with the integration of the criteria used to assess the need for judges and the criteria for assessing the need for court support staff. The recommended approach relies upon a quantitative analysis of the need for judges and court staff combined with a qualitative component. The quantitative criteria should approximate the need for judges and court support staff, and then these estimates should be tempered with more qualitative, court-specific factors that may differentially affect the need for judges and court support staff.