Category Scaling within a Given Context as a Common Basis for the AHP, SMART andELECTRE

摘要

Three methods for multicriteria decision analysis are addressed: the directrating method in the Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique (SMART); the pairwise comparison methods in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP); and the French set of ELECTRE systems. Since decisions are invariably made within a given context, relative preferences are modeled as ratios of increments or decrements in an interval on the axis of desirability. The ratio magnitudes are sorted into a small number of categories, represented by numerical values in a geometric scale. An explanation as to why AHP and ELECTRE are concerned with category judgment of ratio magnitudes, whereas SMART essentially uses the orders of magnitude of these ratios, is given. This provides a common basis for the analysis of the methods in question and for a cross validation of their results.