Section 3 – Developmental Approach to Evaluation
The IMPACT program of research was committed to the design and implementation of innovative approaches to address access-to-care needs of vulnerable populations. As such, it supported learning and knowledge mobilisation across all aspects of the program.
Given these characteristics of the research program, a developmental approach to evaluation was particularly well suited to support the learning and development needs of IMPACT. The purpose of this approach was to enhance the probability that the LIPs would be successful and to support the program of research in achieving its objectives while advancing theories and practices of innovation and change.
In this section, we present requirements for a developmental approach to evaluation that are aligned with the requirements for other aspects of the IMPACT program. Refer to the Developmental Evaluation Primer and reading list (Gamble 2008) for further information about this approach.
The IMPACT Reality
Although IMPACT originally intended to establish a Developmental Learning Team that made changes to the interventions based on results of their evaluation, this did not happen as planned.
