Expert opinion elicitation and pathogen scoring
To incorporate value-based judgements into the weighting of the criteria
in this assessment (Havelaar et al., 2010; Krause, 2008; Walshe &
Burgman, 2010), potential stakeholder-experts were identified based on
their interest in, influence on, and valuable knowledge of the live
baitfish pathway (Jakob-Hoff et al., 2014). Identified experts were then
validated by eligibility criteria including: current professional
position and years of experience related to fish health, aquatic
invasive species, or the production of live baitfish for recreational
angling. Stakeholder-experts were also asked to identify other potential
participants for our study, a process called “snowball sampling”, by
which members of a narrowly-defined group identify other members of that
group (Hald et al., 2016). Willing and informed stakeholder-experts were
asked to assign a weight to each criterion such that all weights added
to one (Cox, Revie, & Sanchez, 2012; Krause, 2008). The expert
weighting exercise was administered in the online survey platform
Qualtrics (Qualtrics, Provo, UT 2019).