An experimental evaluation of interactive MCDM methods and the decision making process

Increasingly, it is becoming recognized that interactive solution methods should provide not only a solution to a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem, but also the opportunity for decision makers to learn about their own preferences. This paper describes an experiment that examines three MCDM solution methods and the process of converging on a final solution. Twenty-four management students participated in the experiment and were required to solve two completely different MCDM problems. Within this experimental framework, the use of a two-stage approach to decision making was examined. Both quantitative and qualitative results are presented. Preferences among the different solution methods vary significantly. Several conclusions are drawn concerning the desirable features of interactive MCDM solution methods.