A Comparison of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Geometric Mean Procedure for Ratio Scaling

Abstract

This research note evaluates and compares the performance of two methods of ratio scaling (the analytic hierarchy process proposed by Saaty (1977, 1980), and the geometric mean procedure advocated by Williams and Crawford (1980)) when random data are supplied. The two methods are examined in a series of Monte Carlo simulations for two response methods (direct estimation and constant sum) and for various stimuli and response scales. The sampling distributions of the measures of consistency of two methods are tabulated, rules for detecting and rejecting inconsistent respondents are outlined, and approximation formulas for other designs are derived. Overall, there is a high level of agreement and correspondence between the results from the two scaling techniques. We conclude that the present results reinforce Williams and Crawford's claim for the superiority of the geometric mean procedure. Keywords: Psychometrics.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA191069

Entities

People

  • Amnon Rapoport
  • David V. Budescu
  • Rami Zwick

Organizations

  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Consistency
  • Eigenvalues
  • Eigenvectors
  • Equations
  • Hierarchies
  • Maximum Likelihood Estimation
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Probability
  • Psychology
  • Sampling
  • Social Sciences
  • Statistics

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