A literature‐engaged Delphi approach for water quality management in building water systems

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Abstract

We used the Delphi method to identify areas of consensus and disagreement in managing building water systems. One hundred and six experts were invited, 25 of whom completed both rounds. More than 95% of experts agreed that current plumbing codes are not adequate and return loop temperature should be monitored. A notably low percentage of experts agreed on the required level of chloramine (i.e., 32%) and flushing frequency (22%), despite these being common control strategies. Consensus was not achieved for temperature and disinfectant residuals, but a plurality of respondents indicated that a temperature of 55°C was appropriate and that low but detectable levels of disinfectant residuals are appropriate. After Round 2, a majority of the experts agreed that the knowledge syntheses provided were helpful and unbiased. Findings from this study will help stakeholders by providing helpful insights on plumbing code, design factors, operational factors, and water quality monitoring practices.

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Purposeful Sampling for Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis in Mixed Method Implementation Research.

Lawrence Palinkas, Sarah M. Horwitz, Carla A Green … (2015)

Purposeful sampling is widely used in qualitative research for the identification and selection of information-rich cases related to the phenomenon of interest. Although there are several different purposeful sampling strategies, criterion sampling appears to be used most commonly in implementation research. However, combining sampling strategies may be more appropriate to the aims of implementation research and more consistent with recent developments in quantitative methods. This paper reviews the principles and practice of purposeful sampling in implementation research, summarizes types and categories of purposeful sampling strategies and provides a set of recommendations for use of single strategy or multistage strategy designs, particularly for state implementation research.

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Defining consensus: a systematic review recommends methodologic criteria for reporting of Delphi studies.

Ivan Diamond, Robert C Grant, Brian Feldman … (2014)

To investigate how consensus is operationalized in Delphi studies and to explore the role of consensus in determining the results of these studies. Systematic review of a random sample of 100 English language Delphi studies, from two large multidisciplinary databases [ISI Web of Science (Thompson Reuters, New York, NY) and Scopus (Elsevier, Amsterdam, NL)], published between 2000 and 2009. About 98 of the Delphi studies purported to assess consensus, although a definition for consensus was only provided in 72 of the studies (64 a priori). The most common definition for consensus was percent agreement (25 studies), with 75% being the median threshold to define consensus. Although the authors concluded in 86 of the studies that consensus was achieved, consensus was only specified a priori (with a threshold value) in 42 of these studies. Achievement of consensus was related to the decision to stop the Delphi study in only 23 studies, with 70 studies terminating after a specified number of rounds. Although consensus generally is felt to be of primary importance to the Delphi process, definitions of consensus vary widely and are poorly reported. Improved criteria for reporting of methods of Delphi studies are required. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.