Chapter 9: Misuse: The Shadow Side of Use

Marv Alkin was a pioneer in studying evaluation use, and his contributions shaped the profession and our ongoing attention to use as a priority and standard against which to judge evaluation quality. Less well-known, but no less important, is that he has consistently warned about misuse. That’s the focus of my discussion here. Misuse undermines informed decision making. To establish context for this discussion, and in celebration of Alkin’s important contributions to evaluation, let me take readers on a short trip down memory lane.

Alkin was invited by Sara Miller McCune, co-founder and publisher of Sage Publications, to review the manuscript that became the first edition of Utilization-Focused Evaluation (Patton, 1978). He offered a number of helpful suggestions for improving the book, but his most pointed comments were about the importance of paying more attention to misuse. In our initial utilization study on which the book was based, we had not asked questions about misuse. Alkin, more than anyone else, put that issue on the profession’s agenda.