Developmental evaluation : applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use / Michael Quinn Patton

Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-353) and indexes

Developmental evaluation defined and positioned -- Developmental evaluation as a distinct purpose and niche -- Thinking outside evaluation's boxes -- Situation recognition and responsiveness : distinguishing simple, complicated, and complex -- Systems thinking and complexity concepts for developmental evaluation -- How the world is changed : a dialectic with thesis and antithesis, and developmental evaluation as the synthesis -- The adaptive cycle and developmental evaluation -- Developmental evaluation inquiry frameworks -- Developmental evaluation bricolage : reflective practice, sensitizing concepts, action research, abduction, systems change, and retrospective developmental evaluation -- Utilization-focused developmental evaluation : engagement practices, diverse designs, and adaptive methods

Developmental Evaluation offers a powerful approach to monitoring and supporting social innovations by working in partnership with program decision makers. In this book, eminent authority Michael Quinn Patton show shows how to conduct evaluations within a developmental evaluation framework. Patton draws on insights about complex dynamic systems, uncertainty, nonlinearity, and emergence. He illustrated how developmental evaluation can be used for a range of purposes: ongoing program development, adapting effective principles of practice to local context, generating innovations and taking them to scale, and facilitating rapid response in crisis situations