Compare methods

	Developmental Evaluation	Formative Evaluation
Field	Public Policy	Public Policy
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2011	1967
Originator	Michael Quinn Patton	Michael Scriven
Type	Complexity-informed evaluation approach for innovation	Improvement-oriented evaluation function
Seminal source	Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use. New York: Guilford Press. ISBN: 9781606238721	Scriven, M. (1967). The methodology of evaluation. In R. W. Tyler, R. M. Gagné, & M. Scriven (Eds.), Perspectives of Curriculum Evaluation (pp. 39–83). Chicago: Rand McNally. ISBN: 9780528616600
Aliases	DE, Patton Developmental Evaluation, Complexity-Informed Evaluation	Improvement-Oriented Evaluation, Developmental Improvement Evaluation
Related	4	4
Summary	Developmental evaluation is an approach designed to support innovation and adaptation in complex, dynamic environments where the intervention itself is still emerging. Articulated by Michael Quinn Patton in his 2011 book, it abandons the assumption of a fixed, pre-specified model to be tested, and instead embeds an evaluator within the design team to provide real-time feedback that informs ongoing development. Its purpose is development — helping social innovators learn, adapt and respond as conditions change — rather than the improvement of a settled program (formative) or the judgement of a completed one (summative).	Formative evaluation is evaluation conducted to improve a program, policy or product while it is still being developed or refined. The term was coined by Michael Scriven in his 1967 essay 'The Methodology of Evaluation', alongside its counterpart summative evaluation. Where summative evaluation renders a final verdict on a completed intervention, formative evaluation feeds timely information back to designers and implementers so they can fix problems, adjust components and strengthen the intervention before it is finalised or scaled.