Principles-Focused Evaluation: An Evening with Michael Quinn Patton

We live in a rapidly changing world where traditional formative and summative evaluation approaches are no longer adequate for measuring the impact of complex and innovative programs and initiatives. As our special guest Michael Quinn Patton notes in his forthcoming book, Principles-Focused Evaluation, “Change confronts us on all sides, envelopes us from all directions, is omnipresent. We have choices about how we face, engage, and deal with change. Principles inform and guide those choices. They do so by telling us how to act” (Patton, 2016).

Join us for an engaging evening with Michael as we explore some of the key areas with which social innovators, evaluators, and leaders in all sectors need to engage. In particular, Michael will share some of his latest thinking and work related to principles-focused evaluation, which examines whether principles are clear, meaningful, and actionable, whether they are actually being followed and, whether they are leading to desired results.

“Those involved in implementing principles-based programs and initiatives regularly report how refreshing, uplifting, and, yes, inspirational it is to articulate principles and dig deeply into their meaning, adherence, and consequences. These are principles-driven change makers and social innovators creating and running principles-based organizations –and they resonate to principles-focused evaluation” (Patton, 2016).

Facilitator: Susanna Haas Lyons