Comparing Decision-Making Research Groups

                                                     Decision-Making Research Groups

A decision-making research group is formed when a problem is at hand and there is a need to decide which route to take in solving the issue. According to Laouris and Romm (2022), a problem is a system of elements connected by interrelationships. The decision-making research group is constituted to develop a collective understanding of the interrelationship system. Laouris and Romm (2022) stress the importance of group decision-making, even in objectivity, during observations. An observer tends to be biased in their decision on observation, but when a group of observers is involved, they might see things from different angles, and their joint decision will not be biased. It is strongly believed that a decision made by a group of people is better than one made by individuals; this is what TDL (2022) refers to as the “Wisdom of Crowds.” An exception to this is the decision made by competitive groups, who are negatively independent. These groups are as good as individuals in making decisions, if not worse. However, cooperative groups, the positively independent groups, make better decisions than individuals or competitive groups (BCcampus, 2022). There are several decision-making methods, like brainstorming, bottom-up, top-down, structured dialogical design, nominal group method, Delphi method, and so on. For this assignment, I will compare and contrast the Delphi method with the Structured Dialogical Design(SDD).

The Delphi Method: This is the most formal and most popular decision-making method in public policy. The name came from a high priestess of Ancient Greece, “Oracle of Delphi” (TDL, 2022). It originated during the military’s Cold War to predict how technology would help in warfare. The RAND Corporation public policy think tank invented the Delphi method to predict the effects of future attacks on the United States (TDL, 2022). The Delphi method involves experts with varying opinions on a subject, the opinions are evaluated, and then a consensus is reached regarding the generally accepted opinions. The opinions are gathered through anonymous surveys or questionnaires.

Structured Dialogical Design is a structured research group decision-making method that engages the people who are directly affected and/or primarily concerned as the prominent participants in the decision-making   Furthermore, the participants would be selected based on some additional criteria, like the variety of their backgrounds and viewpoints. These participants are not just chosen but are technically selected considering their gender, experience level, influence in the concerned community, and so on (Laouris & Romm, 2022).

Although these two methods are great for qualitative research methods, they have different scenarios they fit into. Structured dialogical design is good within an IT community that is in need of a quick decision and needs the decision to be made by those who are directly concerned or affected. However, Delphi is very good for policymakers when there is no need for any interaction or debate within the participants. It takes longer than the SDD because of its controlled non-interactive feedback.

 

References

BCcampus. (2022). Group decision-making. Principles Of Social Psychology – 1st International H5p Edition. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221721009978

Laouris, L., & Romm, N.R.A. (2022). Structured dialogical design as a problem structuring method illustrated in a Re-invent democracy project. European Journal of Operational Research Volume 301, Issue 3, 16 September 2022, Pages 1072-1087. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221721009978

TDL. (2022) The Delphi method. https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/management/the-delphi-method