Utilization-Focused Evaluation

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.