The Magpies signed only one senior player, Vurnon Anita, during the closed season after pulling the plug on proposed deals for experienced defenders Mathieu Debuchy and Douglas having decided they did not make financial sense.
However, the demands of European football and a series of injuries and suspensions have hit Pardew's squad severely in recent weeks, and its depth has been painfully exposed by four successive Premier League defeats.
In the short-term, the manager is concentrating only on Monday night's home clash with Wigan and the task of securing a much-needed victory, but with the January transfer window looming large, a plan is being drawn up.
Pardew said: "We have been unlucky, but we are in the process of analysing whether we under-cooked it, and that's what we should do.
"It would be silly not to."
France full-back Debuchy remains in Newcastle's sights, but it is perhaps in central defence where the greatest need for reinforcement lies with Steven Taylor sidelined until February and utility man James Perch the only real back-up to skipper Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson.
The deficiencies in Pardew's squad have been highlighted by consecutive league defeats at the hands of West Ham, Swansea, Southampton and Stoke, but he insists the picture is changing constantly and now is not the time to make hard and fast decisions.
He said: "It's increased the discussion mode on that. We obviously had an idea of where it was going to go, but it probably is going to change before we get there.
"It's very important just to keep our eye on the ball."
Such is the depth of the Magpies' current malaise that Pardew, who has set great store by the nature of the football his team plays, would take a win over the Latics however it comes after seeing them rally, but ultimately come up short, at Stoke in midweek.
He said: "Yes, I'm afraid that's where we are. We had a good performance the other night - I thought we played some good football, but the overriding factor was we lost.
"We have to win a game. We are desperate to win and sometimes desperation to win leads you down wrong avenues, so we have got to be careful.
"We just have to keep our heads and do our jobs, do the jobs we are meant to do. When you have lost two or three - and now four for us - you start doing other people's jobs, and it's very important just to focus on your job and do your job."
That is exactly what striker Papiss Cisse did at Stoke when he ended a barren spell by his standards with just his second league goal of the season, the first a fortunate deflection off his backside against West Brom.
The Senegal international had previously endured a tough few weeks, and Pardew is hopeful that the strike will help to restore his confidence.
He said: "It was nice to see him get a goal - and get a goal that was genuinely his, not like the last one.
"He looked sharp at Stoke, and he followed the team. We all looked a little bit sharper, a little bit fresher."
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