Compare methods

	Utilization-Focused Evaluation	Summative Evaluation
Field	Public Policy	Public Policy
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1978	1967
Originator	Michael Quinn Patton	Michael Scriven
Type	Use-driven program evaluation framework	Judgement-oriented evaluation function
Seminal source	Patton, M. Q. (2008). Utilization-Focused Evaluation (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. ISBN: 9781412958615	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	U-FE, Patton Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Use-Focused Evaluation	Outcome Judgement Evaluation, Accountability Evaluation
Related	4	4
Summary	Utilization-focused evaluation (U-FE) is a framework, developed by Michael Quinn Patton from the late 1970s, built on a single organising principle: an evaluation should be judged by its actual use by the people for whom it is intended. Rather than treating use as an afterthought to a technically sound study, U-FE makes intended use by primary intended users the criterion that drives every decision — what is evaluated, what questions are asked, which methods are used, and how findings are reported. The evaluator's job is to facilitate that use throughout, not merely to deliver a report.	Summative evaluation is evaluation conducted to render an overall judgement of a program, policy or product — its merit, worth, effectiveness or impact — typically after it has been implemented or has matured. Named by Michael Scriven in his 1967 essay 'The Methodology of Evaluation' as the counterpart to formative evaluation, its purpose is to inform consequential decisions: whether to continue, expand, replicate, defund or certify an intervention. It addresses the bottom-line question 'did it work, and was it worth it?' for audiences such as funders, policymakers and the public.