On Supporting Group Decision Making by a Hybrid Method of the Method of Pairwise Comparisons and the Delphi Method

Abstract

Ranking and prioritization are important endeavors that take place in a multitude of industrial, commercial and professional domains. The Delphi method is a systematic procedure for aggregating experts’ opinions, particularly those that are predicated on qualitative or otherwise judgmental information. The method of pairwise comparisons provides an elegant means by which the qualities of criteria or alternatives can be compared, ranked, quantized and provides methods for the identification and resolution of inconsistencies. This thesis examines and proposes a means by which the two methods can be combined, in order to provide an easy to use system (which is then implemented as a reference implementation) for ranking and prioritization of a number of alternatives that is broadly applicable to any number of ranking and prioritization problems.