Dalkey, Norman C. with Daniel L. Rourke, Ralph Lewis, and David Snyder. 1972. Studies in the Quality of Life. Lexington Books: Lexington, MA.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Reading questions

• There is an increasing need for methods to measure qualitative aspects of life, why?
• What measuring tool is suggested here?
• What does uncertainty have to do with these issues?
• What is the advantage of Group Judgement?
• Can numerical judgements be applied to qualitative measures?
• What method is suggested for compacting multiple points of view into one or a few?
• How is quality of life defined?
• What two hypotheses are discussed concerning the quality of life?
• What is meant by the statement that…"many attitudes and beliefs which are labeled values are disguised rules for obtaining higher levels of quality of life".

Chapter 2: The Delphi Method: An Experimental Study of Group Opinion (pg. 13-21)

• What might a researcher do when there is unsatisfactory information? What are deferred considerations?
• How do knowledge, speculation, and opinion differ?
• How does "two heads are better than one" relate to opinion?

Precision (Accuracy) - Getting close to "true" answer, limiting error

• Why is an average answer (median or mean) a better guess at a true result then the answer provided by a randomly selected expert from a panel?
• If the correct answer is included among all answers, how does this further justify the use of an average?
• As group size increases, does error increase or decrease? Why do you think this occurs? (Is your answer knowledge, opinion, or speculation?)

Reliability (Reproducibility) - different groups come to the same conclusions

• How does size effect reliability? Again, why do you think this occurs?

Delphi

• What kind of areas has this been applied to?
• What are the three features of Delphi method?
• What properties besides efficiency are pointed out?