Summative AEF tends to be applied as a final or conclusive point in the evaluation of an activity. Its purpose is to summarize or to describe the attained state of an activity, and it may be applied in the form of a final evaluation. The use of Summative AEF is very much aligned with reward or reinforcement systems, and is generally unconcerned with affecting future directions of anything. Some examples of Summative AEF may be found in entertainment, academia, and most jobs. Academia uses grades and promotions to recognize varying levels of achievement.
Most jobs use annual performance evaluations to archive employees' performance against goals.
There are two broad ways in which AEF may be based. Norm-based assessment is usually grounded in a broad population of similar actors conducting similar activities, from which a normative performance profile is derived. It can also reflect rater biases. Criterion-based AEF is based in predefined performance items, it does not consider the performance of any other actors, and is generally grounded in an absolute scale of some kind. AEF tends to reflect prevailing performance.