APPLICATION OF DELPHI METHOD IN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH: A QUANTITATIVE PERSPECTIVE

TLDR

The Delphi method has become increasingly common in construction engineering and management research, yet few studies explore its integration with statistical techniques. This paper reviews the combined use of Delphi and quantitative methods in CEM through a structured literature review of 88 papers. The authors systematically identified 88 Delphi studies from ten leading CEM journals (1990–2012) and examined their topics, application needs, statistical techniques, and integration with fuzzy sets, AHP, and ANP. The review offers practical guidance for researchers applying Delphi in CEM.

Abstract

The Delphi method has been used as a main research method by a growing number of researchers in the Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) field in the past two decades. Although a number of studies are available on the use of Delphi, few researchers fully examine the potential of the Delphi method in the combined use of statistical techniques, which is an inevitable trend for future Delphi research. This paper aims to review the combined use of Delphi and other quantitative methods in the CEM field based on a structured literature review of 88 relevant papers. All of the 88 papers are systematically identified from ten well-known peer-reviewed CEM journals published in the period of 1990–2012. Topic coverage, application requirements, and statistical techniques in the 88 Delphi papers are reviewed. The mix use of the Delphi method with three advanced modelling methods, such as Fuzzy sets, Analytical Hierarchy Process, and Analytical Network Process is also examined. These review results provide practical references for researchers having interests in applying Delphi method in CEM research.