Utilization-focused evaluation involves identifying and working with primary intended users to design and interpret an evaluation. This includes the process of working with primary intended users to render judgments about the extent to which the preponderance of evidence supports a meaningful and useful conclusion about degree to which an intervention has affected observed outcomes and impacts. This is the essence of contribution analysis. Two in-depth examples illustrate this process.
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FunnellSCRogersPJ (2011) Purposeful Program Theory: Making Effective Use of Theories of Change and Logic Models. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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MayneJ (2001) Addressing attribution through contribution analysis: using performance measures sensibly. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation16(1): 1–24.
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MayneJ (2008) Contribution Analysis: An Approach to Exploring Cause and Effect. ILAC Brief No. 16: Rome: The Institutional Learning and Change Initiative.
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MayneJ (2011) Contribution analysis: addressing cause and effect. In: SchwartzRForssKMarraM (eds) Evaluating the Complex. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 53–96.
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PattonMQ (2008) Advocacy impact evaluation. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation5(9): 1–10.
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PattonMQ (2011) Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use. New York: Guilford.
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PattonMQ (2012) Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
SOFA Working Group (2010) Switching Operations Fatality Analysis. Washington, DC: SOFA Working Group.
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SternED with Altinger L, Feinstein O, Marañón M, Ruegenberg D, Schulz N and Nielsen NS (2008) Thematic Study on The Paris Declaration, Aid Effectiveness and Development Effectiveness. Madrid: DaRa Development Assistance Research Associates and Copenhagen: Ministry of Foreign Affairs. URL: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/59/28/41807824.pdf
