Delphi Technique vs Focus Group
Delphi Technique vs Focus Groups
Delphi Technique
The Delphi Technique begins with the development of a set of open-ended questions on a specific issue. These questions are then distributed to various ‘experts’. The responses to these questions are summarised and a second set of questions that seek to clarify areas of agreement and disagreement is formulated and distributed to the same group of ‘experts’.
Advantages of Delphi Technique.
Delphi Technique: • Is conducted in writing and does not require face-to-face meetings: - responses can be made at the convenience of the participant; - individuals from diverse backgrounds or from remote locations to work together on the same problems; - is relatively free of social pressure, personality influence, and individual dominance and is, therefore, conducive to independent thinking and gradual formulation of reliable judgments or forecasting of results; - helps generate consensus or identify divergence of opinions among groups hostile to each other; • Helps keep attention directly on the issue: • Allows a number of experts to be called upon to provide a broad range of views, on which to base analysis—“two heads are better than one”: - allows sharing of information and reasoning among participants; - iteration enables participants to review, re-evaluate and revise all their previous statements in light of comments made by their peers; • Is inexpensive.
Disadvantages of Delphi Technique: • Information comes from a selected group of people and may not be representative; • Tendency to eliminate extreme positions and force a middle-of-the-road consensus; • More time-consuming than group process methods; • Requires skill in written communication; • Requires adequate time and participant commitment.
Focus Groups
Focus groups are a form of group interview that capitalises on communication between research participants in order to generate data. Although group interviews
Delphi Technique
The Delphi Technique begins with the development of a set of open-ended questions on a specific issue. These questions are then distributed to various ‘experts’. The responses to these questions are summarised and a second set of questions that seek to clarify areas of agreement and disagreement is formulated and distributed to the same group of ‘experts’.
Advantages of Delphi Technique.
Delphi Technique: • Is conducted in writing and does not require face-to-face meetings: - responses can be made at the convenience of the participant; - individuals from diverse backgrounds or from remote locations to work together on the same problems; - is relatively free of social pressure, personality influence, and individual dominance and is, therefore, conducive to independent thinking and gradual formulation of reliable judgments or forecasting of results; - helps generate consensus or identify divergence of opinions among groups hostile to each other; • Helps keep attention directly on the issue: • Allows a number of experts to be called upon to provide a broad range of views, on which to base analysis—“two heads are better than one”: - allows sharing of information and reasoning among participants; - iteration enables participants to review, re-evaluate and revise all their previous statements in light of comments made by their peers; • Is inexpensive.
Disadvantages of Delphi Technique: • Information comes from a selected group of people and may not be representative; • Tendency to eliminate extreme positions and force a middle-of-the-road consensus; • More time-consuming than group process methods; • Requires skill in written communication; • Requires adequate time and participant commitment.
Focus Groups
Focus groups are a form of group interview that capitalises on communication between research participants in order to generate data. Although group interviews