Influence of aggregation and measurement scale on ranking a compromise alternative in AHP

Alessio Ishizaka, Dieter Balkenborg and Todd Kaplan
Additional contact information
Alessio Ishizaka: University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School

No 506, Discussion Papers from University of Exeter, Department of Economics

Abstract: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the most popular multi-attribute decision aid methods. However, results depend on the preference measurement sacle and the aggregation technique used. In this paper, we describe a decision problem with an inherent trade-off between two criteria. A decision-maker has to choose among three alternatives: two extremes and one "compromise". Six different measurement scales described previously in the literature and the new proposed logarithmic scale are considered for applying the additive and the multiplicative AHP. The results are compared with the standard consumer choice theory. The geometric and power scales offer no chance (for the additive AHP) and very few chances (for the multiplicative AHP) for a compromise to be selected. The logarithmic scale used with the multiplicative AHP is the most in agreement with the consumer choice theory.

Keywords: : Decision Analysis; Multiple criteria analysis; Utility theory; Additive AHP; Multiplicative AHP; Logarithmic scale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-11
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://exetereconomics.github.io/RePEc/dpapers/DP0506.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Influence of aggregation and measurement scale on ranking a compromise alternative in AHP (2011)
Working Paper: Influence of aggregation and measurement scale on ranking a compromise alternative in AHP (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:exe:wpaper:0506

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Discussion Papers from University of Exeter, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sebastian Kripfganz ().