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Sparse analytic hierarchy process: an experimental analysis

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Abstract

The aim of the sparse analytic hierarchy process (SAHP) problem is to rank a set of alternatives based on their utility/importance; this task is accomplished by asking human decision-makers to compare selected pairs of alternatives and to specify relative preference information, in the form of ratios of utilities. However, such an information is often affected by subjective biases or inconsistencies. Moreover, there is no general consent on the best approach to accomplish this task, and in the literature several techniques have been proposed. Finally, when more than one decision-maker is involved in the process, there is a need to provide adequate methodologies to aggregate the available information. In this view, the contribution of this paper to the SAHP body of knowledge is twofold. From one side, it develops a novel methodology to aggregate sparse data given by multiple sources of information. From another side, the paper undertakes an experimental validation of the most popular techniques to solve the SAHP problem, discussing the strength points and shortcomings of the different methodology with respect to a real case study.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Automatic Control, University Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, 00128, Rome, Italy

    Gabriele Oliva & Roberto Setola

  2. ISC-CNR UoS “Sapienza”, Piazzale Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Antonio Scala

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Universitá degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Dell’Olmo

Authors
  1. Gabriele Oliva
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  2. Roberto Setola
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  3. Antonio Scala
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  4. Paolo Dell’Olmo
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Correspondence to Gabriele Oliva.

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Communicated by P. Beraldi, M. Boccia, C. Sterle.

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Oliva, G., Setola, R., Scala, A. et al. Sparse analytic hierarchy process: an experimental analysis. Soft Comput 23, 2887–2898 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3401-9

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