Developmental evaluation (DE) offers a powerful approach to monitoring and supporting social innovations by working in partnership with program decision makers. In this book, eminent authority shows how to conduct evaluations within a DE framework. Patton draws on insights about complex dynamic systems, uncertainty, nonlinearity, and emergence. He…

Use and misuse of evaluation results are discussed. Variations in evaluation definitions, entity used, nature of the user, time and place of evaluation use, personal factor, basic premises of utilization-focused evaluation, misutilization, and method and rationales for use are discussed. A case example with a federal program is outlined. (TJH)

This paper reviews what has been learned about evaluation ultilization during the past 20 years. Evaluation utilization is discussed in terms of what is used, who uses evaluation, when evaluation is used, how evaluation is used, where evaluation is used, and why evaluation is used. It is suggested that the personal factor - the interests and…

The user-oriented and utilization-focused evaluation design of the two-year Caribbean Agricultural Extension Project, funded by Aid to International Development, is reviewed. The evaluation scope, stakeholders, evaluation team credibility, official approval of evaluation, and confidence in the evaluation process are addressed, within a…

This new edition offers an evaluation text that ranges from identifying the primary users of an evaluation to focusing the evaluation, making methods decisions, analyzing data, and presenting findings. Both practical and theoretical, the book tells how to conduct program evaluations and why they should be conducted in the manner prescribed. Each…

Areas of evaluation are identified in which the formative/summative distinction appears inadequate: (1) knowledge-generating evaluations aimed at conceptual use; (2) developmental evaluation; and (3) use of evaluation to support intervention or empower participants. An argument is also made for the effectiveness of feedback that cannot be…

An approach toward integrating evaluation into a program at its inception is presented as a way to increase utility and cost-effectiveness. Examples illustrate that such integration, combining internal and external evaluation, is preferable to independent and separate evaluation in terms of the cost to stakeholders. (SLD)

Developmental evaluation is proposed as a term to describe certain long-term partnering relationships with clients who are, themselves, engaged in ongoing program development. Rather than a model, developmental evaluation is a relationship founded on a shared purpose and is a way of being useful in innovative settings. (SLD)

Two reviews consider the program-evaluation standards of the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluations. This edition makes the complexity, risks, and power of evaluation clear through descriptive writing and case illustrations. The organization and content of the standards document are described. (SLD)

A utilization-focused approach in evaluating a problem-solving skills training program (see TM 510 179) would have placed more emphasis on identifying evaluation users, their information needs, and likely use of findings. Other methods options are also discussed, along with how to prepare decision makers for utilization. (Author/BW)

In program evaluation and policy analyses, utility supplants rigor as the first and most important criterion in judging literature reviews. Although R. T. Ogawa and B. Malen emphasize rigor, a utilization-focused evaluation emphasizes purpose and audience, both of which affect the conduct of a multivocal literature review. (SLD)