The Delphi method, as a structured expert consensus-building methodology, has been widely used for policy formulation, guideline development, and research design across a wide range of disciplines including public health, nursing, and education. However, its implementation is marked by substantial heterogeneity, and the quality of Delphi studies varies widely, creating an urgent need for standardized critical appraisal tools. The Delphi critical appraisal tool(DCAT) is a specialized evaluation framework developed by Sean Grant and Dmitry Khodyakov, based on their over 15 years of hands-on experience conducting Delphi studies and a comprehensive systematic review of the literature on the Delphi method since its inception. It comprises 4 core items and 12 additional items, covering the full research workflow of study design, data collection, data analysis, and results reporting. This article interprets each assessment item of the DCAT framework with a focus on its core components and scoring logic, integrated with concrete case examples.

德尔菲法作为一种结构化的群体共识构建方法，广泛应用于公共卫生、护理、教育等多个领域的政策制定、指南开发与研究设计。然而，该方法的实施异质性大，研究质量参差不齐，亟须标准化的批判性评估工具。德尔菲批判性评估工具（DCAT）是Grant等基于15年实践经验与系统性文献综述后开发出来的专用评估框架，包含4个核心条目与12个附加条目，覆盖研究设计、数据收集、数据分析与结果报告全流程。本文将结合具体案例，围绕DCAT框架的核心要素与评分逻辑，对各评估条目进行解读。