Enriched preference modeling and robustness analysis for the ELECTRE Tri-B method

Abstract

We consider multiple criteria sorting problems with preference-ordered classes delimited by a set of boundary profiles. While significantly extending the ELECTRE Tri-B method, we present an integrated framework for modeling indirect preference information and conducting robustness analysis. We allow the Decision Maker (DM) to provide the following three types of holistic judgments: assignment examples, assignment-based pairwise comparisons, and desired class cardinalities. A diversity of recommendation that can be obtained given the plurality of outranking-based sorting models compatible with the DM’s preferences is quantified by means of six types of results. These include possible assignments, class acceptability indices, necessary assignment-based preference relation, assignment-based outranking indices, extreme class cardinalities, and class cardinality indices. We discuss the impact of preference information on the derived outcomes, the interrelations between the exact results computed with mathematical programming and stochastic indices estimated with the Monte Carlo simulations, and new measures for quantifying the robustness of results. The practical usefulness of the approach is illustrated on data from the Financial Times concerning MBA programs.