THE MATERIAL PRESENTED EMERGED FROM MANY SOURCES: STUDIES OF THE UTILIZATION OF EVALUATION; EXPERIENCES CONDUCTING EVALUATION; CURRENT THEORIES OF FORMAL ORGANIZATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS; RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN DECISIONMAKING THEORY AND POLICY ANALYSIS; WORK IN THE DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS AND UTILIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE; AND MANY SOURCES IN THE RAPIDLY GROWING EVALUATION RESEARCH LITERATURE. EACH CHAPTER CONTAINS BOTH A REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE AND ACTUAL CASE EXAMPLES TO ILLUSTRATE MAJOR POINTS. THE SUBJECT AREAS COVERED INCLUDE: THE EMERGENCE OF EVALUATION RESEARCH; AN EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVE ON UTILIZATION OF EVALUATION IN PRACTICE; THE POWER OF EVALUATIONS (IN THE SENSE OF POLITICAL AND GROUP RELATIONS); THE IDENTIFICATION AND ORGANIZATION OF RELEVANT DECISIONMAKERS AND INFORMATION USERS; FOCUSING THE EVALUATION QUESTION; GOALS CLARIFICATION; THE GOAL OF GOALS (WHETHER IT IS ALWAYS DESIRABLE TO SET A FIRM GOAL); THE EVALUATION OF PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION; EVALUATING CAUSAL LINKAGES; ALTERNATIVE PARADIGMS OF EVALUATION MEASUREMENT AND DESIGN; THE ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, DISSEMINATION, AND UTILIZATION OF EVALUATION DATA; AND THE UTILIZATION-FOCUSED EVALUATION. A DETAILED OUTLINE OF THE UTILIZATION-FOCUSED APPROACH IS PROVIDED, AS ARE SELECTED REFERENCES. ASSORTED TABLES ARE INCLUDED.