Developmental Evaluation, Second Edition

Supporting responsiveness and adaptation in volatile times, developmental evaluation (DE) has transitioned from being a niche option to a widely used, mainstream approach, making the significantly revised second edition of this groundbreaking book especially needed. The new ADAPT organizing framework provides key guidance for conducting Agile, Dynamic, Actionable, Principled, and Timely evaluations that contribute to a vision of a more equitable and resilient future. With insight and humor, the book explains the whats, whys, and how-tos of using DE in ongoing program development, extending principles of practice to local or global contexts, and facilitating real-time, actionable responses to emergence, turbulence, and uncertainty. User-friendly features for students and evaluators include concrete examples and cases, engaging writing, cartoons, instructive sidebars, summary tables, and new Tips and Traps in each chapter.

New To This Edition

• Insights, wisdom, and data from over 15 years of large-scale implementation and DE training around the world.
• New and expanded topics--the intensifying climate crisis; evaluation lessons learned from COVID-19; emerging applications of AI; developments in data visualization, systems mapping, and theories of transformation; and more.
• New chapter organization highlighting each element of ADAPT.
• Every chapter concludes with “Tips and Traps--what to watch for and what to avoid.
  

Michael Quinn Patton, PhD, is an independent consultant who has been conducting program evaluations since the 1970s. Based in Minnesota, he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota for 18 years and is a former president of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). Dr. Patton is author of more than a dozen books on evaluation. He is a recipient of the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award, the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award, and the Research on Evaluation Award, all from AEA. He has also received the Lester F. Ward Distinguished Contribution to Applied and Clinical Sociology Award from the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology. In 2021, Dr. Patton received the first Transformative Evaluator Award from EvalYouth. He is an active speaker, trainer, and workshop presenter who has conducted applied research and evaluation on a broad range of issues and has worked with organizations and programs at the international, national, state, provincial, and local levels.

Charmagne E. Campbell-Patton, MA, is a second-generation evaluator and twelfth-generation European settler based in Minneapolis. Since the early 2000s, her professional experience spans program design, implementation, and evaluation work across a range of fields, including youth engagement, education, criminal and juvenile justice, and philanthropy. Ms. Campbell-Patton specializes in qualitative research methods and utilization-focused developmental evaluation.