Practitioners have been finding their own ways to operate in complex adaptive systems. One method taking hold in some arenas is Developmental Evaluation (DE). The characteristics of DE include adaptability, learning, interdependence and coevolution (Gamble, 2008). These characteristics are useful in the networks in which nonprofit organizations find themselves working and are strikingly similar to the stated themes of Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT).
Developmental evaluation[1] is a recent development within the field of evaluation. As a recent development that relies on long-term processes, its measure of success is currently limited to case studies (Patton, 2016).
Patton (2008), who pioneered this form of evaluation, defines it as a collaborative, interactive, and long-term process between evaluators and those engaged in initiatives. Developmental evaluation processes include asking evaluative questions and gathering information to provide feedback and support developmental decision-making and course corrections along an emergent strategic path. The evaluator (DE coach) is part of a team whose members collaborate to conceptualize, design, and test new approaches in a long-term, on-going process of continuous improvement, adaptation, and intentional change. The evaluator’s primary function in the team is to elucidate team discussions with evaluative questions, data and logic, and to facilitate data-based assessments and decision-making in the unfolding and developmental processes of innovation. The collaborative evaluative judgements are ongoing and timely; DE involves evaluative thinking throughout an initiative’s development and implementation, not solely formatively or summatively.
Gamble (2008) explains that developmental evaluation applies to ongoing innovation in which both the process and the goals are evolving. Approaches such as formative and summative evaluation focus on measurement of intended outcomes; formative evaluation is an effort usually prior to the beginning of a program to improve how the program will be delivered, and summative evaluation measures outcomes and impacts after completion of a program or a stage of the program (Newcomer, Hatry, and Wholey, 2010). Developmental evaluation is utilized to support innovation within a context of uncertainty, in which the process and outcomes are evolving. The term “developmental” in developmental evaluation describes innovation driving change. This differs from making improvements to attain a clearly-defined one-time goal. Innovation is typically used to describe the introduction of something new and useful. Social change innovation, however, occurs when there is a change in practice, policies, programs or resource flows. Innovation is distinct from improvement in that it causes reorganization at a systems level. Michael Quinn Patton graphically described the relationship between summative, formative, and developmental evaluation (Figure 1), which are not mutually exclusive, in Haugh (2016). Developmental evaluation is useful in highly dynamic environments that change too quickly for formative or summative evaluation to be meaningful. It is also more useful when considering long-term impact.
Figure 1. Michael Quinn Patton on Developmental Evaluation for Beginners
Source: Haugh (2016). Katherine Haugh’s Blog
Complexity helps DE organizations make sense, guide innovation, and adapt (Patton, 2016). The practice of DE emerged from working in complex dynamic environments. Social innovators, as Patton calls those who work on seemingly intractable problems, adapting programs to new contexts, catalyze systems change, and improvise rapid responses. Gamble (2008) explains DE as evaluation for doing things in situations of high complexity. The field of evaluation "has been dominated by project- and model-testing” (Patton, 2016, p. 19) that has mastered how projects can be evaluated. However, large social problems are interconnected, and require action at a systems level involving multiple projects. While traditional evaluation approaches tend to offer clear, specific, and measurable outcomes that are achieved through processes detailed in linear logical models, such demands for pre-planned specificity do not work well in conditions of high uncertainty, turbulence, and emergence. Ongoing, interactive evaluation is more useful in social systems that are inherently dynamic and complex. Observations are needed from multiple perspectives—participation and collaboration, what is being done and what the environment is doing (Patton, 2016).
By focusing on adaptive learning (Patton, 2011), Developmental Evaluation supports innovation. The J. W. McConnell Family Foundation, whose interests are to foster citizen engagement, build resilient communities, and develop potential by contributing to the betterment of communities addressing intractable social problems in Canada, has been training participants of nonprofit organizations in Canada and supporting the networks since the early 2000s (Gamble, 2008).
References:
Gamble, J. A. (2008). A developmental evaluation primer. Montreal: JW McConnell Family Foundation.
Haugh, K. (2015,July 13). Michael Quinn Patton on Developmental Evaluation for Beginners [Katherin Hough’s weblog comment]. Retrieved from http://katherinehaugh.com/michael-quinn-patton-on-developmental-evaluation-for-beginners/.
Newcomer, K. E., Hatry, H. P., & Wholey, J. S. (2010). Planning and Designing Useful Evaluations. In Wholey, J. S., Hatry, H. P., & Newcomer, K. E. (Eds.), Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation (182-207). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Patton, M. Q. (2008). Utilization-focused evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publications.
Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use. New York: Guilford Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2016). Developmental Evaluation Exemplars: Principles in Practice. New York: Guilford Press.
For more information:
Dozois, E., Langlois, M., & Blancet-Cohen, B. (2010). A Practitioner’s Guide to Developmental Evaluation. Montreal: J. W. McConnell Foundation.
Gamble, J. A. (2008). A developmental evaluation primer. Montreal: JW McConnell Family Foundation.
Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use. New York: Guilford Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2016). Developmental Evaluation Exemplars: Principles in Practice. New York: Guilford Press.
[1] The medical field uses the term “developmental evaluation” to refer to assessing individual human development. The use of the term in the context of this paper is of evaluation of organizational efforts. The term should also not be confused with “development evaluation,” used frequently in the context of assessing international aid development programs.