Introduction and comparative analysis of the multi-level parsimonious AHP methodology in a public transport development decision problem

Abstract

The methodology of Parsimonious Analytic Hierarchy Process (PAHP) has been originally constructed to unburden the evaluators of an AHP survey from the numerous pairwise comparisons caused by the several alternatives in decision problems. So far, there are very few applications of PAHP and all of them referred to the last level of the decision structure; to the alternatives. This paper aims to demonstrate a multi-level PAHP based model, so how to apply the method on an arbitrary level of the decision structure. Since being a new method, another objective is to conduct a comparative analysis on the correlation of the results between AHP and multi-level PAHP models. Moreover, the new multi-level approach makes it possible to demonstrate an immanent analysis originated from AHP logic to test PAHP results, which is unique in the scientific literature for Parsimonious technique. The created model has been tested in the real-world decision problem of a Turkish big city, Mersin. Based on the test and analysis, the method can be a suitable tool in case of layman evaluations even in case of small number of criteria or alternatives. In the paper, a general application process is also proposed for other future appliers of the method.

Analytical hierarchy process: revolution and evolution

“…Then, using the relative weights (local priorities) calculated for the reference points and the initial weights assigned to the remaining alternatives, an interpolation procedure is applied to derive the relative weights (local priorities) of the latter alternatives. Duleba (2020) extends the same intuition to a multi-level structure. To better compare the enhanced versions of AHP, we implement these methods using a numerical example analyzed many times in the AHP literature.…”

User Satisfaction Survey on Public Transport by a New PAHP Based Model

“…Table 5 shows the gained normalized increasing order: Still in this step, we had to select some reference criteria to be compared in the later stage of multi-level Parsimonious AHP methodology. As selection criteria, the PAHP literature [39,44] recommends keeping the s number of selected attributes low enough for easier pair wise comparisons and, simultaneously, high enough to represent the set of the elements of the Parsimonious level. In this case study, three reference attributes (the most and the least important and an intermediate based on the first direct evaluations) seemed sufficient to select.…”

Daily food planning for families under Covid-19: combining analytic hierarchy processes and linear optimisation

“…The second tool particularity used in our application is the new Parsimonious AHP (PAHP). This novel technique was recently introduced by Abastante et al ( 2019 ) and there are still very few applications reported (Abastante et al, 2018 ; Duleba, 2020 ). We believe that this technique will become prominent in the future and the present study contributes to its consolidation by testing it in the current framework.…”

“…One of them is the fact that the AHP tool not only enables to simultaneously capture subjective and objectives aspects of the decision-maker’s choice in a quantifiable manner but also permits the participation of non-experts, such as children, by invoking simple pairwise comparisons. In addition, AHP features cyclicality, which enables to evaluate the consistency of assessments made by the decision makers by checking procedure and rank reversal in case of inconsistencies (Duleba, 2020 ).…”