Transitive calibration of the analytic hierarchy process

One of the strengths of the Analytic Hierarchy Process is that it allows decision-makers to specify their preferences using a verbal scale. Yet, as is well known, a strict reliance on the corresponding Saaty 1–9 numeric scale can induce some inconsistency. Hence we argue that, in certain situations, it may be appropriate to calibrate the verbal scale. The result of this calibration is a geometric scale based on a single parameter. We present some limited evidence that this geometric scale marginally outperforms the Saaty 1–9 scale. Moreover, we suggest that this calibration can be used to do a simple sensitivity analysis in cases where judgements are uncertain.