Abstract

Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been considerably criticized for possible rank reversal phenomenon caused by: i, when new alternatives are added or old ones deleted; and ii, when new criteria are added or old ones deleted with the caveat that the priorities of alternatives would be tied under these criteria and hence argued that the criteria should be irrelevant when ranking the alternatives. While in many cases this is a perfectly valid phenomenon, there are also many cases where rank should be preserved. This paper deals with rank reversal due to the inconsistency of the inputs. The preference intensities on REMBRANDT scale are more compatible than AHP scale. The REMBRANDT system is therefore proposed to avoid rank reversal phenomenon. We have provided a practical example to show that the rank reversal phenomenon did not occur with the REMBRANDT system, but did occur with the Wang and Elhag approach.

Key words: Analytic hierarchy process (AHP), REMBRANDT system, rank reversal, multiple-attribute decision making (MADM), uncertainty.