No abstract

This chapter recommends an educational role for evaluators in nonformal settings, including the development of program theory and long-term evaluation capacity building.

Decision makers in nonformal education programs can maximize the utility of their evaluation investment and improve program effectiveness by being more mindful of the potential uses of evaluation information. Evaluation use is a multifaceted construct that may include, but is not limited to, the implementation of evaluation recommendations or results. Three primary types of evaluation use have emerged from four decades of scholarly research: (1) instrumental, where the results are used in making decisions about program structure and function; (2) conceptual, where the results inform or educate decision makers about matters related to the program or topic being evaluated; and (3) persuasive or symbolic, where the results are used to influence or persuade others. This chapter expands on these definitions of evaluation use, describes some of the challenges presented by nonformal education settings, and discusses strategies for increasing evaluation use in nonformal education programs.