The Historical Development of Evaluation Use
The first article in this series traces the initial development of the concept of evaluation use. As a field, evaluation has always paid attention to the potential for use, both in decision-making and in changing people’s thinking. The broad history of the field as we know it today stemmed from two...
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Published in | The American journal of evaluation Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 568 - 579 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Los Angeles, CA
SAGE Publications
01.12.2016
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The first article in this series traces the initial development of the concept of evaluation use. As a field, evaluation has always paid attention to the potential for use, both in decision-making and in changing people’s thinking. The broad history of the field as we know it today stemmed from two streams: one focused on tests and measurement, primarily in education, and a second focused on social research methods, primarily concerning knowledge utilization. Evaluation use had its roots in both streams, resulting in three broad categories for discussing the use of evaluation findings: instrumental use, conceptual use or enlightenment, and symbolic use. The additional category of process use, added years later, highlighted the potential utility of people’s participation in the evaluation process. |
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ISSN: | 1098-2140 1557-0878 |
DOI: | 10.1177/1098214016665164 |