utilization focused evaluation

Utilization Focused Eval

(UFE)Michael Patton: school programs and social

welfare programs

Elements of UFE• Primary purpose is to inform decisions; type of participatory approach• Personal factor: stakeholders care about the evaluation/in a position

to use it• 1970s study, 20 federal health evaluations; 11 possible factors; 2 main factors:

political considerations & the personal factor

• Critical: evaluator identifies the stakeholders who care/have personal factor

• Involving stakeholders increases ownership and ultimately use of evaluation (Patton, Cousins, Earle, Greene)

UFE Approach

• Step 1: identify intended users/stakeholders • Interest in the study (pretty critical, as low interest may result in

flaking out)• Power to do something with the results• Suggest questions; help them be intentional in design of the

evaluation

• Context: high-level government officials (e.g. federal cabinet) vs. lower-key decision makers who have time and interest to get involved

Is it like Practical Participatory Approach?

• First stage is unique: stakeholder selection & focus on intended use

• Other stages are very similar: ID questions of interest, consider use, involve stakeholders in design & data collection, ensure questions reflect values, etc.

• Final stage: interpreting results, making recommendations, etc. all involve stakeholders

• Patton’s UFE (focus on decision makers) is more like Stufflebeam’s CIPP model (focus on stages & relevant decisions)

Weaknesses

• Staffing turnover, notably of intended users• To address the matter, suggest a task force of primary users

rather than one • Build in enough time to inform replacements if/when turnover

happens

• Finding “the” decision maker isn’t that straightforward• “ . . .a much less tidy, much more back and forth, in-and-out,

around-and-about kind of process, and all kinds of irrelevancies get tangled in the process . . . Not ‘find the decision maker and give him the word.’” (Weiss & Mark, 2006, p.480)

Participatory Approaches

Participatory evaluation: “an overarching term for any evaluation approach that involves program staff or participants actively in the decision making and other activities related to planning and implementation of evaluation studies” (2005,

p.291).

• Partnership between decision makers, people with responsibility, or people with vital interest (Cousins & Earl)

• Often confused with collaborative evaluation, but King identifies 4 characteristics:

1. Stakeholder based, democratizes eval process2. Participant ownership3. Evaluator is consultant/partner4. Eval skills of participants will likely increase

The relationship between stakeholders & evaluators is the difference between collab & participatory eval

Categories of approaches

• Control over the eval or technical decision-making process• Stakeholder selection• Depth of participation

• Practical (intended to have practical application/outcome) • Transformative (intended to empower stakeholders to transform,

bring about social change; explicitly political purposes)