DELPHI: AN INTRODUCTION

Delphi is an expert consensus method. The theory behind the Delphi method is that the interaction of experts may lead to a reduction in individual bias. The Delphi method was developed at the Rand Corporation as a semi-structured interactive and iterative polling strategy to obtain expert estimates of both risk and outcomes associated with different courses of action. Medical decision research commonly applies the Delphi approach, but the high cost in time & effort has impeded efforts to create & poll in vivo experts.

We have developed software that carries out all aspects of the Delphi method via the Internet. We have utilized a collection of integrated open source tools, commonly known as the LAMP platform (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) plus R for statistical analysis and graphing. The Delphi method online consists of three components:

1. Authorship
2. Interactive polling
3. Reporting/results

Please see each component for details. For further information, please contact either Kenneth More Cam, Patrick E. McKnight, or Jason N. Doctor at the CORBINA Laboratory.