A Literature Review of Group Decision-Making: The Case Study of ‎Delphi Method

The emergence of complex issues about which not enough information exists has led to the development of ‎consensus methods. Delphi method can be mentioned among these. This study aimed to review related ‎studies and general familiarity with the characteristics, goals, implementation process, strengths, and limitations ‎of this method. In this review, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ERIC, ProQuest, and CIVILICA databases, as well as the Google ‎Scholar, were searched using English and Persian keywords with no time restrictions (up to June  ‎‎۲۰۲۳) to find related articles. A review of studies shows that the Delphi method is used to collect ‎and combine the opinions of experts to reach a general conclusion about a specific issue, especially when the ‎experts are geographically distant. It is especially helpful for reaching a consensus on issues that are ambiguous, uncertain, and with ‎little empirical evidence. The advantages of Delphi include using different communication approaches, the ‎identification and basic understanding of the subject, and the lack of influence of the opinions and ‎personality of certain people in the opinions of the group. However, there are limitations such as the slow and ‎time-consuming process, the bias of the source of information, the loss of experts, the possibility of receiving a low ‎response rate, the fatigue of people from the steps and the topic, the absence of specific criteria in the ‎definition of experts, the level of consensus, and the size the expert group participating in the study. By understanding the steps involved and their pros and cons, researchers can ‎effectively leverage the Delphi method to make well-informed decisions and gain valuable insights into the future. ‎