Group decision technique: Delphi vs Nominal

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There are many group decision techniques; each has its benefits and is to be used under a set of circumstances to yield the best result.   The Delphi technique is often used for developing a forecast of future events and technology trends, lifestyles, legislation, and regulations (Steward et al., 2007).  The problems addressed often have little or no data and no mathematical algorithms to forecast the future accurately.  And it is even more challenging to predict their impacts.   This technique requires a group of experts with similar interests to provide independent forecasts.  A level of confidence accompanies these forecasts.  Choosing the right group of experts plays a critical role in this technique.   The Delphi technique requires a facilitator who can elicit the individual members' questions and feedback (Salkind, 2007).   The top answers are selected, summarized, and sent back to all experts for another round of feedback.  With each round, the solution gets more refined.  

The Nominal group is another technique commonly used to address problems that can be addressed by different groups of people, unlike the Delphi technique.  One of the main reasons for the nominal group technique is to avoid the influence of opinions from dominant members (Steward et al., 2007).  For example, members may include supervisors and subordinates, parents and children, experts, and non-experts.  Individual contributions are the key to the success of this technique.  In this technique, participants may not even meet or interact with one another.   Participants are interviewed individually, and ideas are submitted to all group members.  This technique is often accompanied by a voting method to select the best choices.  Subsequent iterations may be needed to refine the answer or to chose the best ones.  

Both of these techniques are useful for group decision-making.  The use of which techniques are dependent on the type of group and the individual participants.  The Nominal calls for more individual contributions regardless of their background or status, while the Dephi calls for a group of similar experts.  The Delphi addresses many uncertainties and predictions questions, while the Nominal groups often focus on new ideas and brainstorming.  These methods play a major role in organization operations as well as for research purposes.   Other techniques are available on SAGE Publications that may be of use for specific research styles if these two methods do not fit the methodology you are looking for.  

 

References

Salkind, N. J. (2007). Encyclopedia of measurement and statistics (Vols. 1-0). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412952644

Stewart, D. W., Shamdasani, P. N. & Rook, D. W. (2007). Other group methods. In Focus groups (pp. 153-161). SAGE Publications, Ltd., https://www-doi-org.perdoceoed.idm.oclc.org/10.4135/9781412991841