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Scriven (1967) makes a distinction between formative and summative evaluation, which Lincoln and Guba (1986) suggest are, broadly speaking, aims of evaluation:

The aim of formative evaluation is to provide descriptive and judgmental information, leading to refinement, improvement, alterations, and/or modification in the evaluand, while the aim of summative evaluation is to determine its impacts, outcomes, or results. (Lincoln and Guba 1986: 550)

A less technical, but similar definition is provided by Robson:

Formative evaluation is intended to help in the development of the programme, innovation or whatever is the focus of the evaluation. Summative evaluation concentrates on assessing the effects and effectiveness of the programme. (Robson 2011: 181)

However, the distinction between summative and formative evaluations is not absolute (Robson 2011). For example, determining whether or not a policy has had an impact often involves asking questions about how it has done so, for whom, why, and under what conditions (Government Social Research Unit 2007a). These two broad approaches tend to carry with them some assumptions about the nature of the evaluation undertaken. For example, a formative evaluation needs to be carried out and reported in time for modifications to the policy, programme or project (Robson 2011), implying that the audience for the evaluation might more likely be programme managers as opposed to policymakers or the public. This in turn implies the evaluator might have a more interactive role and that data collection will be continuous, possibly with a greater emphasis on qualitative data collection. A summative evaluation implies that the audience are more likely to be policymakers, programme funders or the public, and that the role of the evaluator could be more independent and removed from evaluation subjects, with a focus on outcome measures and the production of formal evaluation reports. Potential distinctions are illustrated in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1