Utilization

From EvaluationWiki

An important feature of the professional practice of evaluation that distinguishes it from traditional social scientific research concerns the nature of its product. The evaluation report is an entity and a topic that requires close study, by contrast with the highly stylized, fixed context, scientific report. The evaluator is not reporting to a group with a well-defined level of understanding, even at the terminological level. Michael Quinn Patton is famous for his 'utilization-focused evaluation,' which illustrates the importance and benefits from focusing on the possible slippage between the offered report and the actual use of it. Of course, avoiding a failure of the cup to convey something to the lip is only partly a matter of using an appropriate vocabulary; it requires a careful study of exactly what it is that the client needs and the evaluator has provided. Hence the idea of a serious 'information needs-assessment' early in the discussions between the evaluator and the client becomes important, both with respect to the content and the format of the prospective report. Example: there are several common situations in which a written evaluation would be highly undesirable.