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“An excellent resource for anyone who needs to use this type of evaluation method.”

—Doody's Review Service


“Central to this book is the notion that DE is principle-driven (a most refreshing change away from ‘best practices’). DE is about learning and adjusting innovations for systems change, providing a basis for evaluations that embrace adaptation as conditions shift. Whether you are an evaluation student, instructor, or practitioner, the cases will help you learn your way into DE. Use them as part of your ongoing apprenticeship, as DE is learned through practice. You will appreciate the emphasis on the readiness conditions needed for DE to flourish. For anyone committed to participatory inquiry and action research, this book will become a trusted companion.”

—Ricardo Ramirez, PhD, independent researcher and evaluation consultant, Guelph, Ontario, Canada


“The contributors delve into the 'whats,' 'whys', and 'how-tos' of this powerful, adaptive model of evaluation. Chapters highlight key conceptual linkages to systems thinking and complexity theory and show how these ideas can come to life with community stakeholders and policymakers. The case studies are a treasure trove of powerful stories, practical guidance, and teaching tools that bring DE to life across populations, cultures, settings, and nations. Developmental Evaluation Exemplars represents a significant advancement in the theory, methods, and practice of evaluation and systems change.”

—Rebecca Campbell, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University


“The field has been waiting for a book like this one. A well-balanced, diverse set of authors focus on good examples of DE practice. The book shows how innovative projects and programs require evaluation practices and approaches that honor complexity, flexibility, and systems thinking. It describes with clarity how DE actually happens in complex ecologies and settings across the globe. This book is written for any serious student of evaluation at the graduate or postgraduate level. I am very happy to add it to my shelf of required and recommended materials for my classes in education policy and evaluation.”

—Rodney Hopson, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign


“This book demonstrates that DE is not just about applying tools and methods; it's about how evaluators can think more creatively, critically, strategically, and rigorously. It’s also about building trusting, credible, ethical relationships. The exemplars will challenge you to bring forth your best thinking and relating as an evaluator.”

—Beverly A. Parsons, PhD, Executive Director, InSites, Fort Collins, Colorado

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Table of Contents

1. State of the Art and Practice of Developmental Evaluation: Answers to Common and Recurring Questions, Michael Quinn Patton

2. Cultural Responsivenessthrough Developmental Evaluation: Indigenous Innovations in Sport and Traditional Maori Recreation, Nan Wehipeihana, Kate McKegg,Veronica Thompson, & Kataraina Pipi

3. Using Developmental Evaluation to Support College Access and Success: Challenge Scholars, Srik Gopal, Katelyn Mack, & Cris Kutzli

4.Nine Guiding Principles to Help Youth Overcome Homelessness: A Principles-Focused Developmental Evaluation, Nora F. Murphy

5. Fostering Learning through Developmental Evaluation with a Nontraditional Arts Organization and a Traditional Community Funder, Jamie Gamble, Shawn Van Sluys, & Lisa Watson

6. Scienceand How We Care for Needy Young Children: The Frontiers of Innovation Initiative, Julie Asher, Nathaniel Foote, James Radner, & Tassy Warren

7. Developmental Evaluation’s Role in Supporting Community-Led Solutions for Maori and Pacific Young People’s Educational Success: The ASB Community Trust Maori and Pacific Education Initiative, Kate McKegg, Nan Wehipeihana, Moi Becroft, & Jennifer Gill

8. Developmental Evaluation in the McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program: A Journey of Discovery, Marah Moore & Jane Maland Cady

9. An Example of Patch Evaluation: Vibrant Communities Canada, Mark Cabaj, Eric Leviten-Reid, Dana Vocisano, & Mabel Jean Rawlins

10. Outcome Harvesting: ADevelopmental Evaluation Inquiry Framework Supporting the Development of an International Social Change Network, Ricardo Wilson-Grau, Paul Kosterink, & Goele Scheers

11. Adapted Developmental Evaluation with USAID’s People-to-People Reconciliation Fund Program, Susan H. Allen, David Hunsicker, Mathias Kjaer, Rebekah Krimmel, Gabrielle Plotkin, & Kelly Skeith

12. Creating Safety to Explore:Strengthening Innovation in an Australian Indigenous Primary Health Care Settingthrough Developmental Evaluation, Samantha Togni, Deborah Askew, Lynne Rogers, Nichola Potter, Sonya Egert, Noel Hayman, Alan Cass, & Alex Brown

13. Leadership’s Role in Building the Education Sector’s Capacity to Use Evaluative Thinking: The Example of the Ontario Ministry of Education, Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, Mary Jean Gallagher, Richard Franz, & Megan Börner

14. Developmental Evaluation in Synthesis: Practitioners’ Perspectives, Kate McKegg & Nan Wehipeihana

15. The Developmental Evaluation Mindset: Eight Guiding Principles, Michael Quinn Patton

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About the Editors

Michael Quinn Patton, PhD, is an independent evaluation consultant with more than 40 years of experience. Based in Minnesota, he is a former president of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). His six evaluation books include Developmental Evaluation, Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (now in its fourth edition ), and Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation. He is a recipient of the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Award for outstanding contributions to evaluation use and practice and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award, both from AEA.

• Author's website
• All titles by Michael Quinn Patton

Kate McKegg, MA, is an independent evaluation consultant with more than 20 years of experience. She is Director of The Knowledge Institute Ltd and a member of the Kinnect Group in Hamilton, New Zealand. She is also the current President of the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association and a former board member of the Australasian Evaluation Society (AES). Ms. McKegg is coeditor of Evaluating Policy and Practice: A New Zealand Reader. With Nan Wehipeihana, Kataraina Pipi, and Veronica Thompson, she received the Best Evaluation Policy and Systems Award from AES, for the He Oranga Poutama Developmental Evaluation.

Nan Wehipeihana, PostGradDip, is an independent evaluation consultant with more than 20 years of experience, based in Wellington, New Zealand. She specializes in evaluation and research with a focus on Maori, the Indigenous people of New Zealand. She established Research Evaluation Consultancy in 1997 and is a member of the Kinnect Group. Ms. Wehipeihana is a board member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association and a former appointed executive member of AES. Her tribal affiliations are to Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui on the East Coast of New Zealand and Ngati Tukorehe and Ngati Raukawa, north of Wellington, New Zealand.

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Contributors

Susan H. Allen, PhD, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia

Julie Asher, MPP, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Deborah Askew, PhD, Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Moi Becroft, BSW, Foundation North, Newton, New Zealand

Megan Börner, MEd, Research, Evaluation and Capacity Building Branch, Student Achievement Division, Ontario Ministry of Education, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Alex Brown, PhD, Aboriginal Research Programme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Mark Cabaj, MA, Here to There Consulting, Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Jane Maland Cady, PhD, International Programs, McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Alan Cass, PhD, Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

Sonya Egert, Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Nathaniel Foote, JD, MBA, TruePoint Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, Burlington, Massachusetts

Richard Franz, MEd, Research, Evaluation and Capacity Building Branch, Student Achievement Division, Ontario Ministry of Education, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Mary Jean Gallagher, MEd, Student Achievement Division, Ontario Ministry of Education, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Jamie Gamble, MM, Imprint Consulting, Hampton, New Brunswick, Canada

Jennifer Gill, BA, DipEd, Foundation North, Newton, New Zealand

Srik Gopal, MBA, FSG, Inc., San Francisco, California

Noel Hayman, MPH, Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

David Hunsicker, MA, Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, DC

Mathias Kjaer, MA, Social Impact, Inc., Arlington, Virginia

Paul Kosterink, MSc, Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, Secretariat of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), The Hague, The Netherlands

Rebekah Krimmel, MPP, Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, DC

Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, EdD, Research, Evaluation and Capacity Building Branch, Student Achievement Division, Ontario Ministry of Education, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Cris Kutzli, BA, Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Eric Leviten-Reid, MES, New Weave Community Consulting, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

Katelyn Mack, ScM, FSG, Inc., San Francisco, California

Kate McKegg, MA, The Knowledge Institute and the Kinnect Group, Hamilton, New Zealand

Marah Moore, MCRP, i2i Institute, Taos, New Mexico

Nora F. Murphy, PhD, TerraLuna Collaborative, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Michael Quinn Patton, PhD, Utilization-Focused Evaluation, St. Paul, Minnesota

Kataraina Pipi, PG Dipl, Facilitation, Evaluation, Music (FEM), Auckland, New Zealand

Gabrielle Plotkin, MS, Social Impact, Inc., Arlington, Virginia

Nichola Potter, PostGradDip, Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

James Radner, MPhil, School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; TruePoint Centre for Higher Ambition Leadership, Burlington, Massachusetts

Mabel Jean Rawlins, MSc, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Lynne Rogers, Dipl, Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Goele Scheers, MA, independent consultant, Ghent, Belgium

Kelly Skeith, MA, Social Impact, Inc., Arlington, Virginia

Veronica Thompson, BA, Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand

Samantha Togni, MA, Indigenous Health Research, Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, and Menzies School of Health Research, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

Shawn Van Sluys, BFA, Musagetes, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Dana Vocisano, BA, Human Systems Intervention, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Tassy Warren, EdM, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Lisa Watson, PostGradDip, Strategies for Social Impact, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Nan Wehipeihana, PostGradDip, Research Evaluation Consultancy and the Kinnect Group, Wellington, New Zealand

Ricardo Wilson-Grau, MA,Ricardo Wilson-Grau Consulting, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Audience

Applied researchers who do evaluations; instructors and graduate students in education, psychology, sociology, management, nursing, and social work.

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Course Use

Will serve as a supplemental text in graduate-level courses in evaluation and social research methods.