The intent of formative evaluation is to improve programs as well as to justify their continuation. It is critical to separate clearly those functions of the evaluation which are political from those which may lead the way to instructional improvement. Data for formative evaluation should be gathered in an interpretable way at the level at which…

This chapter discusses current methods of formative evaluation and suggests that these methods themselves need to be subjected to more critical research and evaluation in order to provide them with a more scientific base. Topics addressed include problems and methods associated with data gathering, evaluation designs, number of subjects available,…

This chapter addresses the problems encountered in the formative evaluation of instructional development projects and the instructional development process. Three types of formative evaluation--component, convergent, and contextual--are distinguished, and the consequences of using the wrong type of evaluation in a particular situation or project…