The Delphi lifecycle
Every Delphi study in Delphi Studio moves through five distinct stages: Design, Run, Analyze, Audit, and Report. Rather than treating these as informal notes or external spreadsheets, Delphi Studio treats each stage as a first-class, guided workflow. This structure helps researchers maintain methodological rigor while reducing administrative burden.
The lifecycle is inherently iterative. Most studies move through multiple cycles of running rounds and analyzing results before reaching a point where all items are classified and the study can conclude.
1. Design
The Design stage is where the foundation of the study is established. Delphi Studio provides an 11-step wizard that guides researchers through defining the study's identity, objectives, methodology, content, and governance before any panelist is invited.
| Area | Key decisions and examples |
|---|---|
| Identity | Principal investigator, institution, IRB approval, protocol version |
| Objective | Research aim, consensus question, target outputs (e.g., competency framework, quality indicators) |
| Method | Delphi type (e.g., Modified e-Delphi), level of anonymity, planned number of rounds, stopping rules |
| Content | Item bank creation or import, taxonomy tagging, rating scales, consensus thresholds and zones |
| Governance | Consent language, email templates, quiet hours, comment approval mode, export and data retention settings |
Checkpoint: Once the researcher completes the Review & launch step, the protocol is marked as complete. Recruitment can then begin, and upon activation the full methodology is frozen into a launch snapshot. This snapshot becomes the immutable reference for all future analysis and reporting.
2. Run
The Run stage covers all activities related to engaging the expert panel and collecting data across rounds.
| Task | Location in Delphi Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Invite and manage panelists | Panel | Supports stratified recruitment and expertise tagging |
| Collect informed consent | Panelist magic link | Consent is recorded before any ratings are collected |
| Open and close rounds | Rounds | Can be manual or scheduled |
| Send reminders | Automated via cadence engine | Configurable timing and quiet hours |
| Lock feedback (Round 2+) | Feedback packets | Ensures every panelist receives identical, approved information |
Throughout the Run stage, response anonymity is structurally protected: panelists never see the identities or individual responses of peers. Researchers ordinarily work with stable pseudonyms (for example, Panelist 1), while any authorized identity reveal is reasoned and audit logged. This preserves confidentiality while allowing longitudinal response tracking and necessary panel administration.
3. Analyze
When a round closes, the Analyze stage begins. Delphi Studio's analytics engine automatically computes a comprehensive set of results for each item:
- Median, interquartile range (IQR), and zone percentages
- Classification into Agree, Disagree, or Indeterminate zones
- Additional metrics such as Kendall's W, stability between rounds, and bimodality flags
- Subgroup breakdowns by expertise domain or demographic characteristics
- A stopping recommendation based on the proportion of items classified and observed stability
Researchers can review these results through visual dashboards (including heatmaps) and may override dispositions when justified, with the rationale recorded in the audit log. For studies that collect open-text comments, researchers can optionally run a governed, AI-assisted qualitative analysis pipeline to identify themes before preparing feedback for the next round.
4. Audit
The Audit stage ensures that every decision and event that influenced the final results is documented in a transparent and tamper-evident way.
Delphi Studio automatically records the following types of events:
| Event category | Examples recorded |
|---|---|
| Design changes | Updates to consensus rules (with before/after values) |
| Panel events | Invitations, consent, withdrawals, unavailable marks, stakeholder role updates |
| Round events | Round opened, closed, deadline extended, feedback locked |
| Ratings and comments | All submissions (stored pseudonymized), including unable-to-rate |
| AI-assisted analysis | Model used, prompt version, researcher adjudication |
| Study events | Researcher-recorded external evidence, outages, deviations (separate from the hash chain) |
| Exports | Trace bundles, CREDES reports, REFI-QDA files, re-analysis versions |
The audit log is hash-chained, meaning each entry includes a cryptographic hash of the previous entry. This creates a tamper-evident record suitable for IRB closeout, journal review, or any situation where the integrity of the research process must be demonstrated. See Audit trail.
5. Report
In the Report stage, the completed study is transformed into publishable and reusable outputs.
Delphi Studio supports the generation of multiple artifacts:
| Output | Format | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Study report | In-app view + DOCX | Comprehensive internal or funder report |
| Manuscript sections | AI-assisted drafts (human reviewed) | Methods, results, and discussion sections |
| CREDES-aligned export | Markdown | Methods section structured around the CREDES domains |
| Consensus tables | CSV / embedded in reports | Ready for publication or supplementary materials |
| Qualitative data | REFI-QDA (XML) | Import into NVivo, MAXQDA, or ATLAS.ti |
| Trace bundle | Checksummed archive (per-file SHA-256 manifest) | Complete reproducibility package |
These outputs are designed to reduce the manual effort required to prepare findings for publication while maintaining full traceability back to the original data and decisions. See Reporting & exports.
Iteration loop
Delphi is fundamentally an iterative process. After the Analyze stage, items that remain indeterminate flow back into the Run stage for another round of rating and feedback.
Researchers can follow the platform's stopping recommendation or make their own determination based on the pattern of remaining indeterminate items and overall stability.
Study status vs. lifecycle stage
Delphi Studio uses study status labels that map to the broader lifecycle stages:
| Study status | Typical lifecycle stage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| draft | Design | Study is being configured in the wizard |
| recruiting | Design complete → Run (recruitment) | Panelists are being invited and consented |
| active | Run + Analyze (iterating) | Rounds are being conducted and analyzed |
| completed | Report (+ Audit archive) | All rounds finished and final outputs generated |
| terminated | Ended early | Study was stopped before completing all planned rounds; no further data collection |
In addition, any study can be archived. Archived is an overlay on the current status rather than a status of its own: it locks all fields against editing while preserving the full record.
Next steps
- Quickstart — launch in 30 minutes
- Study wizard — all 11 configuration screens
- Multi-round worked example