People often have difficulties in making decisions when a judgment of multiple criteria simultaneously is a part of the decision-making. Fortunately, the method like Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been developed to assist the multi-criteria decision making. Yet, AHP has not been introduced to the field Kinesiology. The purpose of this study, using a study of selecting quality athletic shoes for walking, was to introduce AHP to Kinesiology. People often have a difficulty in selecting quality walking shoes because of many alternatives and multiple criteria that can cause conflicts in evaluating alternatives. Forty participants (20 males and 20 female; Age: M = 28.72 and SD = 10.87) were recruited from a Midwestern shoe store for the study and they were classified two age groups (19-24 yrs. and over 25 yrs.). A two-stage decision strategy was employed for the study. In the first stage, the number of alternatives was lowered to a manageable level and the participants were asked to make a selection decision from a consideration set of shoes formed for the study. In the second stage, the participants were asked to make a selection decision with the assistance of AHP. The AHP method was compared to self-explication method???natural way of making choices without interventions. The decision effectiveness in the consideration set, the AHP method, as well as the relationship between the consideration set and the AHP method, were investigated. It was found that, when forming a consideration set and putting on shoes and walking around the store for a while, technical feature and brand was significant shoe attributes to affect the participants??? decision on shoe selection. In making further preferred choices from the consideration set after a shoe test, however, quality, the shoe attribute added after the shoe-test, and technical feature played significant roles in affecting the decision. No significant difference in the quality of a consideration set, which was evaluated by the number of quality shoes within a consideration set, was detected between two age and gender groups; but there a significant interaction effect between age and gender. AHP was a useful tool to help consumers to make a good decision???selecting quality athletic shoes for walking according to perceived preference???according three evaluation outcomes: the consistency of preference, the effectiveness of AHP, and the satisfaction to AHP. The relationship of the number of quality shoes within a consideration set was significant with the consistency, but with the effectiveness and satisfaction of AHP.
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