Capturing decision maker preference: Experimental comparison of decision analysis and MCDM techniques

This paper describes the results of a laboratory study which investigates preference in decision making under certainty with multiple, conflicting objectives and continuous decision variables. Techniques for solving such problems are taken from the fields of decision analysis and optimization: the SMART technique for the former and both the NAIVE and Zionts–Wallenius techniques for the latter. The purpose of the experiment is to determine the ability of each technique to correctly capture decision maker preference. In addition, the relative preference of the decision maker for each technique was obtained. The experiment was conducted on a random sample of business school undergraduates and involved a decision with three criteria. The results give insight into the use of several techniques when confronted with decisions with multiple criteria.