The NGT
technique takes advantage of pooled judgments from a variety of people with
varied talents, knowledge, and skills to form a consensus (Dobbie, Freeman,
Rhodes, & Tysinger 2004). The Delphi Method collects and distills the
anonymous judgments of experts using data collection and analysis (Hartman, Khran,
& Skulmoski 2007). While both are iterative processes, the breakdown of its
membership and practice differ:
During NGT,
each individual group member independently develops a list of ideas surrounding
the issue under discussion. Group members report one idea at a time, followed
by discussion. After all members have presented their ideas and the group has
discussed them, each member ranks the ideas presented. Under the Delphi method,
opinions are sought on a particular topic. After the opinions are collected
they are summarized and returned to the experts for further opinions and
judgments. Several rounds of this generate a synthesis of opinions.
The basic
differences between the Delphi Method and NGT as explained by Kumar and Sharma
(2000) greatly influence the approach I would take to exploring an innovation idea. First,
the Delphi participants are typically anonymous to one another, NGT
participants become acquainted. Second, NGT participants meet face-to-face
roundtable style; Delphi participants are physically separated and never meet
in person. Third, while in the Delphi process, all communication between participants
is by way of written questionnaires and feedback, in NGT, communication is
between the participants.
To explore
my innovation idea, the Delphi Method with closed colla-boration is a more
practical choice because it has the advantage of having several judges removing
the biasing effects that can occur during face-to-face interaction in addition
to taking advantage of real-world knowledge from experts.
References
Dobbie A., Freeman J., Rhodes M., &
Tysinger J. (June 2004). Using a modified nominal group technique as a
curriculum evaluation tool. Retrieved August 3, 2012 from http://www.stfm.org/-fmhub/fm2004/June/Alison402.pdf
Hartman, F., Khran, J., & Skulmoski,
G. (2007). The Delphi Method for Graduate Research. Retrieved August 4, 2012
from http://jite.org/documents/Vol6/JITEv6p001-021Skulmoski212.pdf
Kumar, A. & Sharma, R. (2000). Principles of Business Management. New
Delhi. Atlantic Publishers and Distributers.
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