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Developmental Evaluation, Second Edition

The ADAPT Experience

RRP$125.00

$110.80

  • Paperback

    297 pages

  • Release Date

    24 December 2026

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Summary

Supporting responsiveness and adaptation in volatile times, developmental evaluation (DE) has transitioned from being a niche option to a widely used, mainstream approach, making the significantly revised second edition of this groundbreaking book especially needed.

The new ADAPT organizing framework provides key guidance for conducting Agile, Dynamic, Actionable, Principled, and Timely evaluations that contribute to a vision of a more equitable and resilient future. …

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781462564767
ISBN-10:1462564763
Author:Michael Quinn Patton, Charmagne E. Campbell-Patton
Publisher:Guilford Publications
Imprint:Guilford Press
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:297
Edition:2nd
Release Date:24 December 2026
Dimensions:178mm x 254mm
A-Format
B-Format
C-Format
Developmental Evaluation, Second Edition by Michael Quinn Patton - ISBN: 9781462564767
178 × 254 mm
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

“This book arrives at exactly the right moment. Where the first edition focused on evaluating social innovation, the second edition shows how DE is more broadly relevant for any project, program, policy, or organization operating in our turbulent world. The new ADAPT framework will serve both first-time readers and experienced practitioners returning to it throughout an evaluation. Patton and Campbell-Patton bring together three decades of DE practice with insights from new practices in evaluation, public policy, and management. New ways of doing evaluation are urgently needed to support organizations responding to compound, cascading global crises–this book delivers them.‖Patricia J. Rogers, PhD, independent consultant and former Professor of Public Sector Evaluation, RMIT University, Australia

“This book is ideal for graduate courses in evaluation, public policy, organizational development, and the applied social sciences, as well as for executive education and evaluation professional development training. I plan to use the second edition to help students and practitioners develop the mindset and skills needed to design, adapt, and use evaluation in real time in complex, dynamic environments. The second edition stands out for its integration of contemporary advances in complexity science, systems thinking, and emergent strategy, and for its rich, practice-based examples. It offers exceptional conceptual clarity paired with highly actionable guidance.‖Stewart I. Donaldson, PhD, Distinguished University Professor, Claremont Graduate University; Executive Director, Claremont Evaluation Center and The Evaluators’ Institute

“Since the publication of the first edition, Patton and Campbell-Patton have continued to critically reevaluate and refine DE through the many social, political, economic, and legal changes that have occurred. The second edition’s intentional inclusion of culturally responsive, Indigenous, and equity practices using a DE lens offers the field of evaluation new ways to consider how allies can meaningfully contribute to a broader conversation and academic discourse. More in evaluation should be having this conversation. Developmental evaluation gives us another option that is untethered to business-as-usual in the field of evaluation and offers us a rooted and realistic way to grow, unlearn, and relearn through evaluation and as evaluators. DE offers a pathway into uncovering, understanding, and addressing complexity, unknowns, turbulent times, trauma, and destruction on a systemic and global level for humans and the earth that can advance healing and transformation efforts through evaluation.‖Nicole Bowman, PhD, (Lunaape/Mohican), President, Bowman Performance Consulting; Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“This second edition is a magnum opus that expands the use of DE beyond innovation for adaptive resilience to continuous change. The authors draw on a vast range of interdisciplinary, intercultural, and intersectoral theory and practice. The advances in DE presented here will resonate with evaluation professionals, users, and funders who seek to co-create practice aligned with the ADAPT framework, in the service of social and ecological transformation.‖Andrealisa Belzer, CE, MA, President, International Evaluation Academy

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About The Author

Michael Quinn Patton

Michael Quinn Patton, PhD

Michael Quinn Patton, PhD, is an independent consultant who has been conducting program evaluations since the 1970s. Based in Minnesota, he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota for 18 years and is a former president of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). Dr. Patton is author of more than a dozen books on evaluation. He is a recipient of the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award, the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award, and the Research on Evaluation Award, all from AEA. He has also received the Lester F. Ward Distinguished Contribution to Applied and Clinical Sociology Award from the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology. In 2021, Dr. Patton received the first Transformative Evaluator Award from EvalYouth. He is an active speaker, trainer, and workshop presenter who has conducted applied research and evaluation on a broad range of issues and has worked with organizations and programs at the international, national, state, provincial, and local levels.

Charmagne E. Campbell-Patton, MA

Charmagne E. Campbell-Patton, MA, is a second-generation evaluator and 12th-generation European settler based in Minneapolis. Since the early 2000s, her professional experience spans program design, implementation, and evaluation work across a range of fields, including youth engagement, education, criminal and juvenile justice, and philanthropy. Ms. Campbell-Patton specializes in qualitative research methods and utilization-focused developmental evaluation.

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