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How to derive priorities in AHP: a comparative study

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Abstract

A heated discussion has arisen over the “best” priorities derivation method. Using a Monte Carlo simulation this article compares and evaluates the solutions of four AHP ratio scaling methods: the right eigenvalue method, the left eigenvalue method, the geometric mean and the mean of normalized values. Matrices with different dimensions and degree of impurities are randomly constructed. We observe a high level of agreement between the different scaling techniques. The number of ranking contradictions increases with the dimension of the matrix and the inconsistencies. However, these contradictions affect only close priorities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grande Ecole de Management, Audencia Nantes, 8 route de la Jonelière, 44312, Nantes Cedex 3, France

    Alessio Ishizaka

  2. WWZ/Wirtschaftsinformatik, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051, Basel, Switzerland

    Markus Lusti

Authors
  1. Alessio Ishizaka
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  2. Markus Lusti
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Correspondence to Alessio Ishizaka.

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Ishizaka, A., Lusti, M. How to derive priorities in AHP: a comparative study. cent.eur.j.oper.res. 14, 387–400 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-006-0012-9

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