Consultation to consensus: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Collective Decision Making Methods

The emergence of complex issues has led to the expansion of consensus and collective agreement methods; however, many researchers still mistakenly use these methods interchangeably. Therefore, familiarity with collective agreement methods may be helpful. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of conventional collective agreement methods and state their goals and characteristics for the benefit of researchers.

This study was conducted by reviewing and searching for the keywords Focus Group technique, Nominal group technique, Delphi technique, and Expert panel, whose Persian equivalents are the Delphi technique, expert panel, focus group technique, and nominal group technique, respectively, in reputable Persian-language databases, Magiran, SID, Iran Medex, and English-language databases including PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct, without time limits, in Persian and English. More than 560 articles were identified. After removing duplicates and examining the relevance of titles, the relevance of the subject, and the credibility of the source and accessibility of the article, the remaining 18 articles were reviewed.

This article briefly introduces collective agreement techniques, common questions, appropriate goals of the techniques, and types of collective agreement. Collective decision-making methods in various scientific fields are very helpful in making the most appropriate decisions when faced with complex issues and a lack of sufficient information.

Collective agreement methods are helpful in making the most appropriate decisions regarding ambiguous issues. Therefore, it is suggested that experts design appropriate guidelines to guide young researchers in becoming familiar with the applications of collective agreement methods and choosing the appropriate technique.