Pruning of decision alternatives in multiple criteria decision making, based on the UTA method for estimating utilities (Q1085048)

A new interactive method for the progressive elimination of elements from a finite set of decision alternatives is proposed. A sequence of alternatives is presented to the decision maker, who places each new alternative presented in rank order relative to the earlier alternatives evaluated. This ranking of elements in a subset of the decision space is used to eliminate other alternatives from further consideration. The approach is broadly based on the UTA method for utility assessment. The emphasis is not, however, on assessing a utility function as such; instead the class of utility functions is used to eliminate elements of the decision space, when the optimality of such elements is inconsistent with the presumed properties of the utility function and the rank orderings given. In this way, the decision maker need only evaluate a relatively small subset of the decision space, before all remaining alternatives are eliminated. The new procedure is illustrated by two numerical examples.