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The Analytic Hierarchy Process: wash criteria should not be ignored

Author

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  • Thomas L. Saaty
  • Luis G. Vargas

Abstract

In this short paper it is shown that care is required to perform the appropriate normalisation needed to derive the right set of priorities from paired comparisons when criteria are added or deleted in a decision problem. This is particularly true for criteria with respect to which the alternatives have equal priorities and may be thought by someone to be of no consequence in ranking the alternatives. It is easy to see that small perturbation of the equal values of the alternatives with respect to an overwhelmingly important criterion can make a substantial difference to the final priorities of the alternatives if that criterion, called a wash criterion, is blindly deleted from the set of criteria. Background discussion and examples by some authors who did not examine it in the depth needed to understand its consequences are given to demonstrate how to deal with this artificially concocted idea.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas L. Saaty & Luis G. Vargas, 2006. "The Analytic Hierarchy Process: wash criteria should not be ignored," International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(2/3), pages 180-188.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijmdma:v:7:y:2006:i:2/3:p:180-188
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alessio Ishizaka & Sajid Siraj, 2020. "Interactive consistency correction in the analytic hierarchy process to preserve ranks," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 43(2), pages 443-464, December.
    2. Ardalan Bafahm & Minghe Sun, 2019. "Some Conflicting Results in the Analytic Hierarchy Process," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(02), pages 465-486, March.
    3. Lin, Jennifer Shu-Jen & Chou, Shuo-Yan & Chouhuang, Wayne T. & Hsu, C.P., 2008. "Note on "Wash criterion in analytic hierarchy process"," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 185(1), pages 444-447, February.
    4. Yamkela Jakeni & Thabang Maphanga & Benett Siyabonga Madonsela & Karabo Concelia Malakane, 2024. "Identification of Illegal Dumping and Community Views in Informal Settlements, Cape Town: South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Vivek Agrawal & Nitin Seth & Jitendra Kumar Dixit, 2022. "A combined AHP–TOPSIS–DEMATEL approach for evaluating success factors of e-service quality: an experience from Indian banking industry," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 715-747, September.

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