Recently, Shulha, Whitmore, Cousins, Gilbert, and al Hudib (2015) proposed a set of evidence-based principles to guide collaboration. Our research undertakes a case study approach to explore these principles in a developmental evaluation context. Data were collected at two points in an 18-month period where an evaluation group collaborated with the program team from a national organization. This article explores the contributions of selected collaborative approaches to evaluation principles as they are applied in a developmental evaluation.

It has been almost 20 years since Shulha and Cousins (1997) published their seminal paper exploring evaluation use. The paper examined a decade, 1986 to 1996, of theory, practice, and research on evaluation use. Since that time there have been significant developments related to the phenomenon of evaluation use. Outside of evaluation a new and burgeoning field has focused on the use of research in practice and policy; in health care the term knowledge translation has been used and in social sciences knowledge mobilization.

Introduction. This special issue honours Dr. Lyn Shulha’s 25-year contributions to the Canadian field of program evaluation by bringing together the perspectives of authors from across North America to identify Dr. Shulha’s influence on their thinking and evaluation practices. Dr. Shulha’s scholarship is best described as a nonlinear influence because the effect of her work on evaluators’ thinking about collaboration, use, standards, and innovation cannot be directly traced.