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AbstractTheory‐based evaluation examines conditions of program implementation and mechanisms that mediate between processes and outcomes as a means to understand when and how programs work.

The idea of theory-based evaluation (TBE) is plausible and cogent, and it promises to bring greater explanatory power to evaluation. However, problems beset its use, including inadequate theories about pathways to desired outcomes in many program areas, confusion between theories of implementation and theories of programmatic action, difficulties in eliciting or constructing usable theories, measurement error, complexities in analysis, and others. This article explores the problems, describes the nature of potential benefits, and suggests that the benefits are significant enough to warrant continued effort to overcome the obstacles and advance the feasibility of TBE.

In 1826, the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was formed in London to disseminate expert knowledge to the British working classes. It faced many of the same dilemmas as its modern counterpart about writing understandable language, stimulating audience demand, and translating knowledge into action. Its experience suggests lessons for modern efforts in knowledge utilization, particularly about involvement of potential users in diffusion and utilization and about the need for clarity of intellectual focus in organizations that serve the knowledge utilization community.