Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

During this course, students will learn how a multi-criteria decision problem can be structured, solved and analyzed. A multi-criteria decision problem is a problem where a number of alternatives (options) need to be evaluated with respect to a number of criteria (attributes) in order to (i) select the best alternative, or (ii) rank all the alternatives, or (iii) sort the alternatives into a number of classes.

A multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method is a method to find a solution for (one or more parts of) an MCDA problem, where the main phases are:

- Formulating the problem (identifying the goal(s); alternatives; and criteria),

- Evaluating the alternatives with respect to the criteria,

- Finding the importance of the criteria,

- Synthesizing the data collected in the previous phases to find a solution,

- Checking the reliability and validity of the outcomes.

These phases are executed with a close interaction between decision-maker(s)(DMs) and analyst.

This course covers the main phases of MCDA problems and some of the main MCDA methods. An overview of the contents of the course is as follows.

- Introduction

- Structuring an MCDA problem

- Multi Attribute Value methods

-Multi Attribute Value Theory (MAVT)

-Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

-Best Worst Method (BWM)

- Outranking Methods

-ELECTRE methods

-PROMETHEE methods

- Group Decision-Making

- Behavioral considerations

The course has two partial assessments as follows:

- Assignments (students in groups of size 2 apply MCDA methods to different decision-making problems): 40%

Assignment 1 (20%)

Assignment 2 (20%)

- Application (students in groups of size 2 apply an MCDA method to a real-world decision-making problem and write a report of 8000 words): 60%

The review of the Assignments and Application is done following a rubric.

In order to pass the course, the grade of each part (Assignments, Application) should be at least 5.0, and the average of the parts (0.4 * Assignments + 0.6 * Application) should be at least 5.8.

Resit: Students who fail the course have a possibility to repair the Assignments and Application to a maximum of 6.0. If other group members have already passed the course, the students may do this individually. The deadline for the resit is the end of the fifth week of Q2.

If a student fails the course, they take separate partial grades the following year (partial grades are registered separately in Osiris).