ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the normative phase, in which the logic is developed and evaluators assist stakeholders in identifying, clarifying or developing goals or outcomes. ‘Causal theory specifies the underlying causal mechanisms which link, mediate or condition the causal relationship between the treatment variables and outcome variables in a program’. Clarificative evaluation is designed to assist stakeholders to conceptualise interventions and improve their coherence, and thus increase the chances that their implementation will lead to desired outcomes. The use of enquiry is the feature that distinguishes Clarificative evaluation from conventional planning strategies. Clarificative evaluation has a strong formative purpose and can be particularly useful when innovatory interventions are being planned and trialled. Evaluability Assessment devotees have modified the outcomes emphasis towards a greater weight on design clarification as an end in its own right. S. C. Funnell’s program logic Approach was used with an organisation that promotes standards-based school reform at the state and national levels.
