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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Applying the Delphi technique in a study of GPs' information requirements | | Author(s) | Barbara Green, Melanie Jones, David Hughes |
| Journal title | Health & Social Care in the Community, vol 7, no 3, May 1999 |
| Pages | pp 198-205 |
| Keywords | General practitioners ; General practice ; Information services ; Research ; Methodology ; Wales. |
| Annotation | A Delphi study involves a series of rounds of data gathering in which respondents offer and then iteratively refine their views on defined issues. Most studies start with selecting a panel of experts. This article describes some of the problems encountered by the Primary Healthcare Information for Action (PHIFA) Project in south-west Wales in its use of the Delphi technique. It argues that the technique's requirements make it difficult to sustain the kind of inductive analysis - faithfully reflecting respondents' perspectives - that typifies theoretical approaches underpinning qualitative inquiry. The authors describe attempts to incorporate respondents' views in near-verbatim form in the first round, that were undermined by the need to classify and reduce statements for later rounds, and to impose judgments about what should count as consensus. The method coped badly with polarised opinions that existed regarding the development of information systems for commissioning. It is concluded that Delphi is best used for large-scale research in areas where opinions are well established, where problems and choices confronting the study group are well known, and where major organisational reform is not already under way. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990607003 A |
| Classmark | QT6: L5: UV: 3A: 3D: 9 |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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