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Project description
Much of the research on how to aid evaluators /
Decision–Makers (DMs) in organisations addresses the important problems of
seeking to satisfy multiple objectives at the same time (multi-criteria
decision analysis). Some of the research addresses the same problem in group
decisions and negotiations, which becomes even more complex due to the need
of conciliating multiple interests. Decision support models are often
difficult to put into practice, since they require that DMs provide precise
values for many parameters (e.g., criteria weights). Working with models
that demand less effort from the DMs is a manner of contributing to increase
the use and success of formal decision-aiding methods. In particular, some
methods are able to work with qualitative/ordinal information, expressed as
order relations (e.g., stating that one criterion weighs more than some
other, rather than providing precise numerical weights).
The QUORUM project intends to develop the state-of-the-art in
decision-aiding methods working with
qualitative/ordinal information applied to sorting and performance
evaluation problems. Sorting (assignment,
classification) problems consist in separating the evaluated alternatives
(objects, persons, projects,...) into different categories. If the
categories are ordered (e.g., Poor, Fair, ..., Excellent) then this can be
seen as measuring performance through a rating or a qualitative note.
Ordinal information multi-criteria methods will be proposed, being for
instance able to reproduce sorting examples. Sorting problems with multiple
DMs, who may not entirely agree but wish to reach consensus, will also be
studied.
There exist other methods, which measure performance using a quantitative
note, e.g., using a utility function or a value scale. Such methods are
usually intended for selection and ranking problems, where the alternatives
are compared against each other, contrarily to sorting methods. Ordinal
information methods based on aggregating multiple utility/value functions
will also be studied, considering ordinal information about the
alternatives’ performance scores on each criterion, as well as the weights
associated with the utility functions. The extension to cases of group
decisions and negotiations is also planned.
In the spirit of comparing each alternative to the best ones, efficiency
measurement will also be considered in the context of evaluating
performance, namely using Data Envelopment Analysis and other productivity
analysis tools. An important output of these inter-related research streams
will be the development of software to facilitate the usage of the methods,
which will play a major role in the dissemination of the project’s results
among potential users. Case studies will be performed in different contexts,
to assess the usability of the methods and software. Of particular interest,
due to the potential to bring new theoretical developments, is the problem
of assigning tasks to agents. |
