Welphi operates in rounds, similar to the standard Delphi method. However, unlike the traditional Delphi, where feedback from one round is shared with participants before the next round starts, Welphi shares the feedback from one round with the participants during the next round. This allows participants to consider changing their opinions while viewing the automatic statistics generated by Welphi and the anonymous comments provided by other participants. By definition, since it is an online platform, you can call your process an e-Delphi.

Given the difference in how statistics are shared (among other changes), this is also a modified Delphi. After each round, you just need to click the “Add new round button,” and Welphi will automatically create a new round as a copy of the previous one, including aggregated statistics from the participant’s answers. You can implement consensus rules to filter questions already approved from showing up in the next round.

The Delphi Method is a structured method of forecasting and communication employed to establish and establish the consensus of an expert group on an intricate topic or problem. It is basically rounds of anonymous surveys that are sent to a panel of experts. Following each round, facilitators review the results and give aggregated feedback to participants, encouraging them to rethink their positions with regard to the perspectives of the group. This process of anonymity and iteration eliminates biases of the group and social pressure, encouraging impartiality and helping to come to a more informed group opinion which is ideal for making decisions in uncertain situations.

Through Welphi, the Welphi platform, the process of obtaining results using the Delphi method can be improved through process automation. After completing each round Welphi automates the process of aggregating and combining responses, creating reports and statistics of comments that are anonymous. The results are utilized to plan future rounds and are given to experts as feedback. This helps experts adapt their perspectives and come to a consensus quickly and with a well-organized method.

Welphi works by rounds. Only when one round ends can you launch a new one where your participants can see the statistics based on the previous round’s answers.
However, since Welphi creates all new rounds automatically as a copy of the previous one, creating a similar setup as an RTD is straightforward. You just need to keep creating new rounds so that when your participants return to the questionnaire, they see updated statistics.

Welphi fosters consensus in Delphi studies by ensuring expert anonymity, which removes social pressures and promotes honest opinions. It then automates the iterative feedback loop, presenting aggregated statistical summaries and anonymized qualitative comments from previous rounds directly to participants. This clear, structured feedback enables experts to reflect on their positions and adjust their views in light of the group's evolving stance, efficiently guiding the entire panel towards a shared understanding and ultimate consensus.

Every time you want to get the answers from the participants you want to invite, you need to set up a round. A round begins when you invite participants, and ends when you decide you have enough answers. Once the first round is finished, you can use Welphi’s tools to analyse the data. After this, you can set up another round so that participants are allowed to see the statistics of the other users’s answers as well as the comments they may have written. The goal is that, through several rounds, the group can get closer to a consensus.

A Delphi study is often composed of multiple rounds as its core principle involves gathering expert opinions through iterative feedback cycles. While no universal number of rounds applies for every study conducted using Delphi methodology, each may vary based on research objectives and when an agreed upon consensus level has been met.

Delphi studies typically involve at least two rounds to allow for iterative feedback and modification of opinions, though published examples often take on three to four. Though longer rounds could potentially increase panelist engagement and responses stability. Once consensus or stability have been attained or observed by panelists, then further iterations occur until an acceptable solution emerges from these iterations. The process continues until either consensus has been attained or enough responses remain stable enough.

No. To help the questionnaire be cleaner to the participants, you can add category field to the elements to aggregate them in groups. Imagine you are asking validation about criteria to build an index, you can add a field named “Area” and define to each area does each criterion belong. This way, the questionnaire will be splitted in a screen for each area thus making it much easier for participants to answer.

Yes, anonymity of participant responses is central to the Delphi method and Welphi is specially tailored to ensure it. This platform ensures that responses and opinions provided by experts remain private; no participant knows any participant's specific answers. Anonymity is crucial as it reduces social pressure, negates dominant personalities' influences, and encourages experts to express honest, impartial opinions for a more objective distillation of collective wisdom. While study administrators typically see who has responded for tracking purposes, individual responses will typically remain anonymous before being aggregated back with panelists for review and sharing back.

Healthcare and medicine, science and technology forecasting, education, business and management. Other significant areas include environmental studies (for risk assessment, climate change impact prediction, and sustainability strategies), public policy (for developing comprehensive policy frameworks on complex issues like economic inequality or social reform), and urban and regional planning.

Furthermore, it finds use in project management for scope and risk management, identifying potential hazards, and gaining stakeholder consensus on project requirements.

There are no limit. Also, you can change add and remove participants at any time.