What is the purpose of the Delphi method in evaluation?

The Delphi method is specifically designed to gather and refine expert opinions through a structured process that involves multiple rounds of questioning. Its primary purpose is to achieve a consensus among experts on a specific topic or issue, allowing for a nuanced understanding of complex subjects.

In practice, experts respond to questions in the initial round, and their responses are summarized and shared in subsequent rounds. This encourages participants to reconsider their views in light of the group's feedback, ultimately leading to a more informed collective opinion. This method is particularly useful in situations where certainty is not attainable through empirical data alone, and it thrives on the diverse insights of specialists.

While the other choices describe methods related to evaluation or feedback, they don't encapsulate the unique iterative expert-driven consensus-building nature of the Delphi method. For instance, creating a focus group for immediate feedback does not involve the systematic and iterative questioning that is characteristic of the Delphi approach, nor does it aim for a collective expert agreement. Similarly, evaluating the effectiveness of a training program or comparing outcomes from different studies can involve quantitative assessments and does not focus on gathering consensus through expert opinions systematically. Thus, option B accurately reflects the core purpose of the Delphi method.