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Family Practice Advance Access originally published online on August 14, 2009
Family Practice 2009 26(5):420-424; doi:10.1093/fampra/cmp051
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Considering the implication of variations within Delphi research

Miles Thompson

Bath Centre for Pain Services, Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Upper Borough Walls, Bath BA1 1RL, UK. Correspondence to Miles Thompson, E-mail: miles.thompson{at}rnhrd.nhs.uk

Received 9 June 2009; Accepted 21 July 2009.


  Abstract

Delphi research is an increasingly popular method within medical, social and psychological research. It tends to be employed where established theory or knowledge are lacking but where ‘experts’ are thought to hold relevant information. It consists of developing and administering sequential questionnaires that seek to move towards a position of relative consensus. Although the original authors of the technique established a specific method, the literature reveals modifications in the way this is applied. Variations include (i) restricting the ability of experts to respond to the original question, (ii) changing or varying the expert groups used and (iii) the point at which the research ends. This paper provides an overview of the technique and explains these variations and their implications before highlighting possible ways forward.

Keywords. Delphi, methodology, research, variations.

Thompson M. Considering the implication of variations within Delphi research. Family Practice 2009; 26: 420–424.


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