Making policy and making policy work with developmental evaluation

Reynolds, Martin (2018). Making policy and making policy work with developmental evaluation. In: Centre for the evaluation of complexity across the nexus (CECAN) webinar series, 24 Jul 2018, Centre for the evaluation of complexity across the nexus (CECAN).

Abstract

Developmental evaluation endeavours to reconfigure evaluation practice away from merely serving purposes of external accountability of policy towards making evaluation integral to the dualistic practice of policy making and policy implementation. Whilst ideas on developmental evaluation from Michael Quinn Patton have gained traction with increasing concern over interventions in contexts of rapid change and uncertainty, endeavours have focused on applying concepts principally from a tradition of complexity science. A key challenge is in making such concepts work for evaluators and other stakeholders.

A framework of developmental evaluation is introduced based on a simple heuristic founded on three principles from a tradition of systems thinking in practice – understanding inter-relationships, engaging with multiple perspectives, and reflecting on boundary judgements. Two case stories of developmental evaluation are used to illustrate the workings of the heuristic towards making policy and making policy work.

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