Non-discriminating criteria in the AHP : Removal and rank reversal
conference paper
A non-discriminating criterion is defined as a criterion where the decision-maker is indifferent among the alternatives. One would therefore expect the final rank order of the alternatives not to be affected by removing it. A previously published paper by J.S. Finan and W.J. Hurley (2002) showed, however, that in the Analytic Hierarchy Process removing such a criterion from a multilevel hierarchy can reverse rank. In this paper, we offer an explanation of this particular rank reversal phenomenon and show how it can be avoided. We do this by taking into account that there is a link between the normalisation and weighting processes, which suggests adjusting appropriate weights when removing criteria. Further, we discuss whether a non-discriminating criterion should be removed in the first place.
TNO Identifier
464055
Source title
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Multiple Criteria Decision Making - MCDM 2004, August 6-11 2004, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada,