The Delphi: An Underutilized Method of Scholarly and Practical Research for a Public Relations Field in Transition

This paper introduces, analyzes, and explains the Delphi method of research, particularly as it applies to certain aspects of the public relations industry. The Delphi technique became known some fifty years ago when the Rand Corporation used it extensively for forecasting. Since then, scholars and forecasters have used it periodically for early, qualitative explorations into complex issues or domains. The overall purpose of the Delphi is to facilitate formal discussion among selected experts in a given domain around a particular topic; it is particularly useful when those experts cannot easily come together in one place. The method encourages the sharing of diverging worldviews over a few “rounds” or iterations in the hope that the views may converge into some direction around the given topic. For this reason, the Delphi has often been used in situations or environments that tend to be somewhat ambiguous and where interviews and surveys are neither timely nor appropriate. Public relations scholars started incorporating the Delphi method into their research in the late 1980s, and the technique has since been employed to explore broad-ranging issues among experts on at least seven or eight occasions. It has also been used to explore ethical norms. However, public relations literature contains little discussion about the technique and its possible applications or implications for developing knowledge in the field. This paper, then, is intended to dissect the Delphi method so as to offer guidance to public relations scholars who may wish to use it in future studies. The authors, both of whom have conducted Delphi studies, believe that the method is valuable in examining topics that are emerging or underdeveloped in the field; however, certain precautions are necessary in order to ensure that the research achieves the desired effects. The paper is created through a literature review of similar articles on Delphi studies in other domains, notably health communications, followed by an examination of some studies conducted to advance issues in public relations. The authors explore the most appropriate situations for using a Delphi and list the benefits and disbenefits of different aspects or applications of the method. They trace the evolution of Delphi research from its early roots into the era of the Internet and social media, which offer new tools for increasing the number of respondents and moving through the Delphi process more quickly than could previously be done. In advancing such an examination of the Delphi, this paper should be a useful addition to emerging public relations literature

A Delphi survey to determine how educational interventions for evidence-based practice should be reported:Stage 2 of the development of a reporting guideline

BACKGROUND: Undertaking a Delphi exercise is recommended during the second stage in the development process for a reporting guideline. To continue the development for the Guideline for Reporting Evidence-based practice Educational interventions and Teaching (GREET) a Delphi survey was undertaken to determine the consensus opinion of researchers, journal editors and educators in evidence-based practice (EBP) regarding the information items that should be reported when describing an educational intervention for EBP. METHODS: A four round online Delphi survey was conducted from October 2012 to March 2013. The Delphi panel comprised international researchers, educators and journal editors in EBP. Commencing with an open-ended question, participants were invited to volunteer information considered important when reporting educational interventions for EBP. Over three subsequent rounds participants were invited to rate the importance of each of the Delphi items using an 11 point Likert rating scale (low 0 to 4, moderate 5 to 6, high 7 to 8 and very high >8). Consensus agreement was set a priori as at least 80 per cent participant agreement. Consensus agreement was initially calculated within the four categories of importance (low to very high), prior to these four categories being merged into two (<7 and ≥7). Descriptive statistics for each item were computed including the mean Likert scores, standard deviation (SD), range and median participant scores. Mean absolute deviation from the median (MAD-M) was also calculated as a measure of participant disagreement. RESULTS: Thirty-six experts agreed to participate and 27 (79%) participants completed all four rounds. A total of 76 information items were generated across the four survey rounds. Thirty-nine items (51%) were specific to describing the intervention (as opposed to other elements of study design) and consensus agreement was achieved for two of these items (5%). When the four rating categories were merged into two (<7 and ≥7), 18 intervention items achieved consensus agreement. CONCLUSION: This Delphi survey has identified 39 items for describing an educational intervention for EBP. These Delphi intervention items will provide the groundwork for the subsequent consensus discussion to determine the final inclusion of items in the GREET, the first reporting guideline for educational interventions in EBP

Consensus building in social marketing campaigns through the Delphi method

This is the author accepted manuscript.The final version is available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this record.This paper investigates the application of the Delphi method as a tool for building stakeholder consensus on the impact and prioritization of campaign initiatives as applied in a campaign to promote water efficiency behaviour. To date, use of the Delphi method has been underutilized and not yet applied to evaluating and prioritizing social marketing initiatives. Ten potential initiatives were developed during previous research, aiming to promote water efficiency in tourism accommodation. A Delphi panel of experts (n=21) in tourism, water and social marketing evaluated, prioritized and rated the importance of factors used for prioritizing each initiative. Three initiatives received the greatest level of prioritization and were considered to have the highest effectiveness to reach project goals. In the context of this research, a Delphi consultation was a viable method toward this application. Best practices and limitations unique to the social marketing process are offered to aid future social marketing efforts in applying the Delphi method

Standardised method for reporting exercise programmes : protocol for a modified Delphi study

Introduction Exercise is integral to health across the lifespan and important for people with chronic health conditions. A systematic review of exercise trials for chronic conditions reported suboptimal descriptions of the evaluated interventions and concluded that this hinders interpretation and replication. The aim of this project is to develop a standardised method for reporting essential exercise programme details being evaluated in clinical trials. Methods and analysis A modified Delphi technique will be used to gain consensus among international exercise experts. We will use three sequential rounds of anonymous online questionnaires to refine a standardised checklist. A draft checklist of potentially relevant items was developed based on the results of a systematic review of exercise systematic reviews. An international panel of experts was identified by exercise systematic review authorship, established international profile in exercise research and practice and by peer referral. In round 1, the international panel of experts will be asked to rate the importance of each draft item and provide additional suggestions for revisions or new items. Consensus will be considered reached if at least 70% of the panel strongly agree/disagree that an item should be included or excluded. Where agreement is not reached or there are suggestions for altered or new items, these will be taken to round 2 together with an aggregated summary of round 1 responses. Following the second round, a ranking of item importance will be made to rationalise the number of items. The final template will be distributed to panel members for approval. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was received from The Cabrini Institute Ethics Committee, Melbourne, Australia (HREC 02-07-04-14). We plan to use a stepwise process to develop and refine a standardised and internationally agreed template for explicit reporting of exercise programmes. The template will be generalisable across all types of exercise interventions. The findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations

Experimental Status of Semileptonic B Decays - Recent Results from LEP and Comparisons with Y(4S) Experiments

Recent analyses of the LEP and Y(4S) data have better outlined the picture of semileptonic B decays. Results on inclusive and exclusive decay branching fractions and on the extraction of the Vub and Vcb elements of the CKM mixing matrix are discussed, together with some of the still open questions and the sources of model systematics.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the Proc. of the QCD00 Euroconference, Montpellier (France), July 200

The Delphi and GRADE methodology used in the PSOGI 2018 consensus statement on Pseudomyxoma Peritonei and Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP) and Peritoneal Mesothelioma (PM) are both rare peritoneal malignancies. Currently, affected patients may be treated with Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy offering long-term survival or even cure in selected patients. However, many issues regarding the optimal treatment strategy are currently under debate. To aid physicians involved in the treatment of these patients in clinical decision making, the PSOGI executive committee proposed to create a consensus statement on PMP and PM. This manuscript describes the methodology of the consensus process. The Delphi technique is a reliable method for attaining consensus on a topic that lacks scientific evidence through multiple voting rounds which feeds back responses to the participants in between rounds. The GRADE system provides a structured framework for presenting and grading the available evidence. Separate questionnaires were created for PMP and PM and sent during two voting rounds to 80 and 38 experts, respectively. A consensus threshold of 51.0% was chosen. After the second round, consensus was reached on 92.9%–100.0% of the questions. The results were presented and discussed in the plenary session at the PSOGI 2018 international meeting in Paris. A third round for the remaining issues is currently in progress. In conclusion, using the Delphi technique and GRADE methodology, consensus was reached in many issues regarding the treatment of PM and PMP amongst an international panel of experts. The main results will be published in the near future

A framework for understanding the factors influencing pair programming success

Pair programming is one of the more controversial aspects of several Agile system development methods, in particular eXtreme Programming (XP). Various studies have assessed factors that either drive the success or suggest advantages (and disadvantages) of pair programming. In this exploratory study the literature on pair programming is examined and factors distilled. These factors are then compared and contrasted with those discovered in our recent Delphi study of pair programming. Gallis et al. (2003) have proposed an initial framework aimed at providing a comprehensive identification of the major factors impacting team programming situations including pair programming. However, this study demonstrates that the framework should be extended to include an additional category of factors that relate to organizational matters. These factors will be further refined, and used to develop and empirically evaluate a conceptual model of pair programming (success)

Effects of FSI, CR and BEC at Small Relative Momenta of Particles and W-mass Systematics at LEP

The effects of Final State Interactions(FSI), Colour Reconnection(CR) and Bose--Einstein Correlations(BEC) at small relative momenta of particles are discussed. The short review of the LEP results on BEC at Z-peak, on BEC between particles from different Ws in $e^+e^-\to W^+W^-$ events, and the W-mass systematics due to BEC is givenComment: 4 pages, LaTeX, with 1 fig. Presented at 32st International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics (ISMD 2002), Alushta, Ukraine, 7-13 Sep 200

Water quality assessment, trophic classification and water resources management

Quantification of water quality (WQ) is an integral part of scientifically based water resources management. The main objective of this study was comparative analysis of two approaches applied for quantitative assessment of WQ: the trophic level index (TLI) and the Delphi method (DM). We analyzed the following features of these conceptually different approaches: A. similarity of estimates of lake WQ; B. sensitivity to indicating disturbances in the aquatic ecosystem structure and functioning; C. capacity to reflect the impact of major management measures on the quality of water resources. We compared the DM and TLI based on results from a series of lakes covering varying productivity levels, mixing regimes and climatic zones. We assumed that the conservation of aquatic ecosystem in some predefined, “reference”, state is a major objective of sustainable water resources management in the study lakes. The comparison between the two approaches was quantified as a relationship between the DM ranks and respective TLI values. We show that being a classification system, the TLI does not account for specific characteristics of aquatic ecosystems and the array of different potential uses of the water resource. It indirectly assumes that oligotrophication is identical to WQ improvement, and reduction of economic activity within the lake catchment area is the most effective way to improve WQ. WQ assessed with the TLI is more suitable for needs of natural water resources management if eutrophication is a major threat. The DM allows accounting for several water resource uses and therefore it may serve as a more robust and comprehensive tool for WQ quantification and thus for sustainable water resources management