Collecting land use data

Excerpt

NATURAL resource managers and researchers often need data on physical or economic characteristics of specific resource areas, such as a county or a watershed, and on trends in resource use at regional or state levels for making policy decisions. Such data usually are obtained by field studies; mail surveys; or by informal discussions with resource experts, such as governmental agency employees, farmers, timber companies, product marketing representatives, and equipment dealers.

An ongoing project in Oregon, for example, is seeking data on the spatial, financial, and marketing characteristics of agriculture in the state. These data are needed for educational and research purposes and, given Oregon's statewide program to preserve agricultural land, for land use decisions affecting agriculture. As an alternative to a mail survey, Oregon officials decided to test the Delphi expert opinion method to obtain the information needed.

The Delphi approach

The Delphi method was developed in the 1960s by Rand Corporation scientists to obtain group consensus on military forecasting problems (3). In general, Delphi …