Validating AHP, fuzzy alpha cut and fuzzy preference programming method using clustering technique

Fuzzy multicriteria analysis (MA) methods suitable for a given decision problem usually differ in aggregation processes for handling the alternatives' performance ratings and criteria weights. Due to their structural differences, these methods often produce inconsistent ranking results for the same fuzzy MA problem. This paper presents a validation procedure using fuzzy clustering for selecting among inconsistent ranking results produced by AHP, Fuzzy Alpha Cut and Fuzzy Preference Programming methods for a given problem. The procedure compares the ranking results obtained by fuzzy MA methods using different aggregation algorithms with the clustering results of the alternatives by fuzzy clustering. An empirical study of evaluating Major Port Trusts of India is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the validation procedure.