Utilization-Focused Evaluation

Michael Quinn Patton is author of more than a dozen books on evaluation including Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods, 4th ed (2015), Blue Marble Evaluation (2020), Principles-Focused Evaluation (2018), Facilitating Evaluation (2018) and Developmental Evaluation (2011). Based in Minnesota, he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota for 18 years and is a former president of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). Michael is a recipient of the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award, the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award, and the Research on Evaluation Award, all from AEA He has also received the Lester F. Ward Distinguished Contribution to Applied and Clinical Sociology Award from the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology. In 2021 he received the first Transformative Evaluator Award from EvalYouth. He is an active speaker, trainer, and workshop presenter who has conducted applied research and evaluation on a broad range of issues and has worked with organizations and programs at the international, national, state, provincial, and local levels. Michael has three children—a musician, an engineer, and an evaluator—and four grandchildren. When not evaluating, he enjoys exploring the woods and rivers of Minnesota, where he lives.

PART ONE: TOWARD MORE USEFUL EVALUATIONS
Evaluation Use
Both Challenge and Mandate
What Is Utilization-Focused Evaluation?
How Do You Get Started?
Fostering Intended Use by Intended Users
The Personal Factor
Intended Uses of Findings
Intended Process Uses
Impacts of Evaluation Thinking and Experiences
PART TWO: FOCUSING EVALUATIONS: CHOICES, OPTIONS AND DECISIONS
Being Active-Reactive-Adaptive
Evaluator Roles, Situational Responsiveness and Strategic Contingency Thinking
Beyond the Goals Clarification Game
Focusing on Outcomes
Focusing an Evaluation
Alternatives to Goals-Based Evaluation
Implementation Evaluation
What Happened in the Program?
The Program′s Theory of Action
Conceptualizing Casual Linkages
PART THREE: APPROPRIATE METHODS
Evaluations Worth Using
Utilization-Focused Methods Decisions
The Paradigms Debate and a Utilitarian Synthesis
Deciphering Data and Reporting Results
Analysis, Interpretations, Judgments and Recommendations
PART FOUR: REALITIES AND PRACTICALITIES OF UTILIZATION-FOCUSED EVALUATION
Power, Politics and Ethics
Utilization-Focused Evaluation
Process and Premises