A common framework for deriving preference values from pairwise comparison matrices

Pairwise comparison is commonly used to estimate preference values of finite alternatives with respect to a given criterion. We discuss 18 estimating methods for deriving preference values from pairwise judgment matrices under a common framework of effectiveness, distance minimization and correctness in error free cases. We point out the importance of commensurate scales when aggregating all the columns of a judgment matrix and the desirability of weighting the columns according to the preference values. The common framework is useful in differentiating the strength and weakness of the estimated methods. Some comparison results of these 18 methods on two sets of judgment matrices with small and large errors are presented. We also give insight regarding the underlying mathematical structure of some of the methods.