Mobile Delphi Technique — Mobile-Administered Expert Consensus
Mobile-Administered Delphi Technique · Also known as: mobile Delphi, smartphone Delphi, mDelphi, mobile consensus survey
The Mobile Delphi Technique applies the structured, iterative Delphi consensus process through smartphone or tablet interfaces, enabling geographically dispersed expert panels to participate in multiple rounds of rating and feedback from any location. It preserves the anonymity and controlled feedback loop of the classic Delphi while reducing response latency through push notifications and mobile-optimised questionnaires.
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When to use it
Use the Mobile Delphi when you need structured expert consensus on a topic where no definitive empirical answer exists, and when your panel is geographically distributed or time-constrained. It is well-suited to priority setting, guideline development, needs assessment, and forecasting in health, education, policy, and technology domains. The mobile delivery mode is particularly advantageous when experts are frequently in the field, across multiple time zones, or in contexts where scheduling synchronous meetings is impractical. Do not use it when a quick single-round survey suffices, when participants lack reliable smartphone access, when the topic requires deep dialogue rather than structured rating, or when fewer than 8–10 experts are available — consensus statistics become unreliable with very small panels.
Strengths & limitations
- Anonymity eliminates social pressure and status effects, allowing junior or dissenting experts to express genuine views.
- Mobile delivery reduces the weeks-long calendar time traditional postal or even web Delphi rounds require.
- Push notifications and in-app reminders yield higher completion rates than email-only web surveys.
- Iterative controlled feedback produces more considered, stable estimates than single-shot expert surveys.
- Suitable for geographically dispersed panels across time zones without requiring synchronous meetings.
- Consensus does not imply correctness — a panel can converge on a wrong or biased view, especially if membership is homogeneous.
- Mobile screen constraints limit the complexity of items that can be presented comfortably; long stems or complex tables are poorly suited.
- Requires a reliable mobile platform and adequate device/data access among all panellists — uneven access creates participation bias.
- Attrition across rounds is a persistent risk; panellists who drop out after round one skew later aggregations.
Frequently asked
How many rounds are typical for a Mobile Delphi?
Most Delphi studies use two to four rounds. With mobile delivery, three rounds is common: the first gathers initial ratings and qualitative statements, the second presents group feedback and invites revision, and the third confirms or finalises consensus. Fewer rounds risk premature closure; more than four rounds suffer from panellist fatigue and diminishing returns on new information.
What consensus threshold should I use?
There is no universally agreed threshold, but the most widely applied criteria are an interquartile range of 1 or less on a Likert scale, or at least 70–80% of panellists rating an item within a single category. The threshold must be chosen and reported before data collection begins; post-hoc selection undermines credibility.
Does the mobile format compromise anonymity?
Properly implemented, it does not. Responses should be linked to encrypted participant IDs rather than names or device identifiers. Aggregated feedback shown to panellists should contain no individually attributable information. If the platform logs device identifiers, this should be disclosed in the study's ethics documentation.
How is the Mobile Delphi different from a mobile survey?
A mobile survey collects responses in a single round with no feedback or iteration. The Mobile Delphi is defined by its multi-round structure, controlled group feedback between rounds, and anonymity — the goal being convergence toward consensus rather than description of a distribution. The mobile delivery mode is shared, but the methodological logic is fundamentally different.
What if consensus is not reached?
Failure to reach consensus is itself a valid finding — it signals genuine, legitimate disagreement among experts on a topic. Report the final distribution of responses, note the items that did not converge, and discuss possible reasons (heterogeneous expertise, genuinely contested evidence base). Do not force consensus by changing criteria mid-study.
Sources
- Hasson, F., Keeney, S., & McKenna, H. (2000). Research guidelines for the Delphi survey technique. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32(4), 1008–1015. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2000.01567.x ↗
- Delphi method. Wikipedia. link ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 3). Mobile-Administered Delphi Technique. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/survey-methodology/mobile-delphi-technique
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
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- Nominal Group TechniqueQualitative↔ compare
- Online Delphi TechniqueSurvey Methodology↔ compare