Incomplete Successes

Authors

  • Michael Quinn Patton Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.0025.016

Abstract

This special issue celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation shares stories of “how to take advantage of experience with evaluation that cannot be described as successful.” These are what might be called incomplete
successes. Whenever I hear the phrase “incomplete success” I am reminded that United States President Jimmy Carter used that exact phrase to describe the attempt to rescue Americans held hostage in Iran in 1980. Here is what happened in that now classic exemplar of an incomplete success of gargantuan proportions, one that helps put all other uses of that phrase in perspective.

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Published

2011-01-21

How to Cite

Patton, M. Q. (2011). Incomplete Successes. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 25(3), 151–163. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.0025.016

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 3 (2011): Special Issue

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Michael Quinn Patton

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