An approach for solving discrete alternative multiple criteria problems involving ordinal criteria

The existence of ordinal criteria is a factor that complicates multiple criteria problems. In this article the authors develop an approach for the problem of choosing among discrete alternatives assuming that criteria are ordinal. The approach requires pairwise comparisons of alternatives by the decision maker. Based on these comparisons, presumably inferior alternatives are eliminated. Experience on randomly generated problems indicates that the approach usually chooses one of the most preferred alternatives and requires a small number of pairwise comparisons.