Building Your Expert Panel

Your panel of experts is the heart of any Delphi study. Their insights drive your findings and give your results legitimacy. A well-composed panel ensures diverse perspectives and credible conclusions.

The quality and diversity of your expert panel directly impacts the validity and richness of your findings. A well-selected panel brings multiple perspectives while maintaining methodological rigor.

Identify Relevant Experts

Look for professionals with proven expertise—through publications, leadership roles, or recognized field experience.

Expert Selection Criteria

• Knowledge: Demonstrated expertise through publications, practice, or credentials
• Experience: Years of relevant work in the field
• Reputation: Recognition within professional community
• Availability: Willingness and time to commit to multiple rounds
• Communication: Ability to articulate thoughts clearly in writing

Where to find experts: Search academic databases, conference speakers, professional associations, and reputable organizations in your field.

Ensure Diversity

Strive for variation across multiple dimensions. This diversity enriches perspectives and makes your findings more balanced and generalizable:

• Geography: Different regions or countries
• Professional backgrounds: Academia, industry, policy, clinical practice
• Career stages: Early-career and senior experts
• Perspectives: Optimists and skeptics, different theoretical orientations
• Organizational types: Universities, corporations, NGOs, government

Justify Panel Composition

Document your selection process clearly. This transparency builds trust with your audience and strengthens your publication:

• Why you chose these experts
• What qualifications they bring
• How they represent the field
• Your recruitment strategy and success rate
• Any potential limitations in panel composition

Conduct Pre-Screening Interviews (Recommended)

Short preliminary interviews help you:

• Confirm the fit between an expert's perspective and your research question
• Assess their availability and genuine commitment
• Identify potential biases or conflicts of interest
• Build rapport and increase participation rates
• Gather preliminary insights to refine your theses

Recruitment Strategies

• Review published literature and identify leading authors
• Use professional networks and associations
• Snowball sampling (ask experts to recommend others)
• LinkedIn and professional social media outreach
• Conference attendees and presenters
• Important: Aim for 20-30% more than target to account for dropouts

Practical Example: Panel Composition

For our public health technologies Delphi study:

• Panel size: 20 experts
• Backgrounds: Academic researchers, health practitioners, policy-makers, tech industry leaders
• Geography: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific
• Diversity documented: Experience level, organizational sector, geographic region

This setup enabled powerful subgroup comparisons later in the analysis phase (e.g., academics vs. practitioners, optimists vs. skeptics).

Panel Size Guidelines by Academic Level

Always recruit more experts than you need. Expect 20-30% dropout across rounds. Also ensure your panel is truly diverse, not just a homogeneous echo chamber.