Emergence of a new method: The grounded Delphi method

This paper reports on the Grounded Delphi method (GDM), a relatively new methodological extension of the Delphi method, achieved by incorporating aspects of grounded theory, as used in a recent doctoral dissertation. The research explored the skills, knowledge, qualities and professional education needs of information professionals in galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) in Australia, with a view to determining relevant educational requirements to enable information professionals to operate across these blurred cultural heritage boundaries. Implications of using GDM for Library and Information Science (LIS) research, and for research methods in general, is that it improves the rigour of theory building in Delphi studies, while the consensus, or force ranking, aspect of Delphi assists in improving the relevant level of importance of categories derived from grounded theory.