Some of my research log cannot be shared here – at least not until the Delphi process is finished. In particular I can’t share the entries about the content of the participants responses. However, here is my latest entry, describing the logistics of the study, which may be of interest to those who may conduct a similar Delphi study or to those interested in the progress of my particular study.
Here is where I stand with my study. I have sent out 71 invitations to participate. Of these, 24 have indicated interest in participating. Only 22 have actually sent in consent forms and received a link to the first round questions. One of these has dropped out. Currently, I have only 11 responses to the first round questionnaire. I have extended the deadline for Round 1 to this Friday due to the holidays. If I receive even one more response, I’ll have what I considered my “minimum” amount. Regardless, despite the fact that responses have varied in quality (of course), there is no question I have plenty of material to proceed with the study.
My preliminary coding process has revealed several topics I did not originally foresee including in Round 2, so the process of beginning with a broad question is working. Also, happily, much of what they have brought up has been related to issues I cut from my literature review during the revisions that shortened my proposal. I expect I may be able to reuse some of that research and material in the discussion of my results in chapters 4 and/or 5.
Once Round 1 has completed on Friday, I plan to complete my analysis and send out Round 2 questions as soon as Monday the 7th or as late as Friday the 11th. This puts me a bit behind schedule (of course), but if I continue to do preliminary analysis as responses come in, I should be able to make up some time between each round.
Thank you again to all of you who offered assistance after my last post. I wish I were able to use more of that. I can’t wait to post the results here and receive open feedback from all of you as well.