Process Use in Theory, Research, and Practice: New Directions for Evaluation, Number 116

Conceptions of use are grounded within a common conception that use and influence can be traced to evaluation findings or to the knowledge outputs of evaluative activities. Yet a qualitatively different type of use and impact began to emerge from evaluation practice and research on it. This other sort of consequence –– process use –– appeared to be attributable to something wholly independent of evaluation findings, specifically, the activities or processes of evaluation as opposed to its products or outputs. This volume is a multifacted exploration of process use; it includes methodological, empirical, and conceptual inquiries as well as rich narrative forays into the domain of evaluation practice. Such a comprehensive approach serves to deepen understanding of process use as being pivotal in contemporary theory on evaluation consequences.
This is the 116th volume of the Jossey–Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, a publication of Jossey–Bass and the American Evaluation Association. The journal publishes empirical, methodological, and theoretical works on all aspects of evaluation.