Victoria Climbié inquiry Data Corpus project: using the Delphi method in multidisciplinary child protection research

This paper introduces the Delphi research method and analyses its usefulness in multi-agency research. In particular, the authors examine how it was used in a project aimed at making the material generated by the Victoria Climbié Inquiry accessible to child welfare/protection professionals through organizing the oral evidence in such a way that it can become a web-based data corpus. The thematic analysis of research data-sets usually only reflects the theoretical and analytical ideas of the researchers; however, our research demonstrates that using the Delphi method incorporates thematic ideas both from researchers and from active professionals, thereby pooling expertise. Thus we argue that the Delphi method represents a valuable tool in multidisciplinary child welfare research as it embeds a breadth of expertise throughout the research process.