A Scoping Review of Applying the Delphi Method Based on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Conducting Research

Proceedings of The 4th International Conference on Applied Research in Education

Year: 2022

DOI:

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A Scoping Review of Applying the Delphi Method Based on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Conducting Research

Tumiso Thulare, Keneilwe Maremi, Marlien Herselman

 

ABSTRACT: 

The purpose of the study is to provide evidence of the use of the Delphi method to add value to research and replace face-to-face interviews based on the impact and restriction of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since South Africa and the world have been adversely affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, it has become nearly impossible to host face-to-face interviews for data collection as meeting in person increases the risk of infections. As it is difficult to gain direct access to conduct research, companies, schools, and researchers are resorted to working virtually. Therefore, the Delphi method is crucial to ensure continuity and progress in the academic world. It is not concerned with demographics and allows the study’s outcome to be validated and verified with expert reviews, making it a more suitable method during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study conducted a scoping review of the literature to identify articles that used the Delphi method to reach a consensus for their study due to the Covid 19 restrictions and unavailability of face-to-face interviews with participants. The articles were identified in the Web of Science, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore databases as well as Google scholar search engines. Only five articles were found to have successfully reached a consensus out of the 89449 publications initially identified.

keywords: covid-19 pandemic, delphi method.