Developing content standards for teaching research skills using a delphi method

Abstract

The increased attention for teacher assessment and current educational reforms ask for procedures to develop adequate content standards. For the development of content standards on teaching research skills, a Delphi method based on stakeholders’ judgments has been designed and tested. In three rounds, 21 stakeholders judged and revised content standards. The support for the standards increased over the rounds. The method resulted in nine content standards with a high degree of support and consensus. Qualitative analysis of stakeholders’ comments and a Homals analysis showed that the stakeholders differ in the perspectives and preferences from which they judged the standards. The Delphi method proved to be an adequate procedure for developing teaching content standards based on stakeholders’ judgments.