Social Construction of Reality - Bad Request

however, it is important to remember that this study was commissioned based on the need
to go beyond this particular application.
Beyond the auditing function, Patton (1997) details a variety of contrasting
applications: “internal versus external; outcomes versus process; experimental designs
versus cases studies; mandated accountability systems versus voluntary management
efforts; academic studies versus information action research by program staff” (p. 64).
Stufflebeam and Shinkfield (2007) argue evaluation is “society’s most fundamental
discipline…oriented to assessing and improving all aspects of society” (p.4).
Increasingly, evaluation is used to facilitate learning-- “especially transformative learning
in organizational contexts” (Preskill & Torres, 2000, p.25).
Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE) When contrasting the UFE approach to
program evaluation in general, the key distinction rests in the premise “utilization-
focused program evaluation is…done for and with specific, intended primary users for
specific, intended uses” (Patton, 1997, p. 23). When thinking about this, it is helpful to
realize that prior to the 1970s, evaluation was largely approached via experimental
design, an approach that, to this day, is applied. However, evaluations done outside the
organizational context are often perceived by intended users as something being done to,
or on, them. As a result, evaluation findings are often relegated to a forgotten shelf,
where they have little chance of impacting organizational development and/or knowledge
creation (Patton, Preskill & Torres, 1999; Stufflebeam & Shinkfield, 2007). The
Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE) approach is “explicitly geared to ensure that
program evaluation makes an impact” (Stufflebeam & Shinkfield, 2007, p. 230).
Moreover, of the 26 recognized approaches to evaluation, Stufflebeam and Shinkfield
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