We introduce a numerical approach to perform the effective (coarse-scale) bifurcation analysis of solutions of dissipative evolution equations with spatially varying coefficients. The advantage of this approach is that the 'coarse model' (the averaged, effective equation) need not be explicitly constructed. The method only uses a time-integrator code for the detailed problem and judicious choices of initial data and integration times; the bifurcation computations are based on the so-called recursive projection method.