Title: Rank-Based%20Sensitivity%20Analysis%20of%20Multiattribute%20Value%20Models
1Rank-Based Sensitivity Analysis of Multiattribute
Value Models
- Antti Punkka and Ahti Salo
- Systems Analysis Laboratory
- Helsinki University of Technology
- P.O. Box 1100, 02015 TKK, Finland
- http//www.sal.tkk.fi/
- forename.surname_at_tkk.fi
2Additive Multiattribute Value Model
- Provides a complete rank-ordering for the
alternatives - Selection of the best alternative
- Rank-ordering of e.g. universities (Liu and Cheng
2005) or graduate programs (Keeney et al. 2006) - Prioritization of project proposals or innovation
ideas (e.g. Könnölä et al. 2007) - Methods for global sensitivity analysis on
weights and scores - Focus only on the selection of the best
alternative - Ex post Sensitivity of the decision
recommendation to parameter variation - Ex ante Computation of viable decision
candidates subject to incomplete information
about the parameter values - (e.g., Rios Insua and French 1991, Butler et al.
1997, Mustajoki et al. 2006)
3Sensitivity Analysis of Rankings
- Consider the full rank-ordering instead of the
most preferred alternative - How sensitive is the rank-ordering
- How to compare two rank-orderings? How to
communicate differences? - We compute the attainable rankings for each
alternative subject to global variation in
weights and scores - How sensitive is the ranking of an alternative
subject to parameter variation? - Is the ranking of university X sensitive to the
attribute weights applied? - What is the best / worst attainable ranking of
project proposal Y?
4Incomplete Information
- Model parameter uncertainty before computation
- Relax complete specification of parameters
- Error coefficients on the statements, e.g.
weight ratios - E.g. Mustajoki et al. (2006)
- Directly elicit and apply incomplete information
- Incompletely defined weight ratios 2 w3/ w2
3 - Ordinal information about weights w1 w3
- Score intervals 0.4 v1(x12) 0.6
- E.g., Kirkwood and Sarin (1985),
- Salo and Hämäläinen (1992), Liesiö et al. (2007)
-
- Set of feasible weights and scores (S)
5Attainable Rankings
- Existing output concepts of ex ante sensitivity
analysis do not consider the full rank-ordering
of alternative set X - Value intervals focus on 1 alternative at a time
- Dominance relations are essentially pairwise
comparisons - Potential optimality focuses on the ranking 1
- Alternative xk can attain ranking r, if exists
feasible parameters such that the number of
alternatives with higher value is r-1
6Attainable Rankings Example
- 2 attributes, 4 alternatives with fixed scores,
w1?? 0.4, 0.7
V
x1
x2
x3
x4
0.4
0.7
0.6
0.3
7Computation of Attainable Rankings
- Application of incomplete information ? set of
feasible weights and scores (S) - If S is convex, all rankings between the best and
the worst attainable rankings are attainable - Best ranking of xk
- Worst ranking of xk
- MILP model to obtain the best / worst ranking of
each xk - V(x) expressed in non-normalized form (linear in
w and v) - of binary variables X - 1
8Example Shangai Rank-Ordering of Universities
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks the world
universities annually - Example data from 2007
- http//ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking2007.htm
- 508 universities
- Additive model for rank-ordering of the
universities
9Attributes
Criterion Indicator Code Weight
Quality of Education Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals Alumni 10
Quality of Faculty Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals Award 20
Quality of Faculty Highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories HiCi 20
Research Output Articles published in Nature and Science NS 20
Research Output Articles in Science Citation Index-expanded, Social Science Citation Index SCI 20
Size of Institution Academic performance with respect to the size of an institution Size 10
Table adopted from http//ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking20
07.htm
10Data
11Sensitivity Analysis
- How sensitive are the rankings to weight
variation? - What if different weights were applied?
- Relax point estimate weighting
- 1. Relative intervals around the point estimates
- E.g. ?20 , wi0.20
- 2. Incomplete ordinal information
- Attributes with wi0.20 cannot be less important
than those with wi0.10 - All weights lower-bounded by 0.02
12Results Rank-Sensitivity of Top Universities
exact weights
20 interval
30 interval
University
incompl. ordinal
no information
10th
442nd
Ranking
13Conclusion
- A model to compute attainable rankings
- Sufficiently efficient even with hundreds of
alternatives and several attributes - Attainable rankings communicate sensitivity of
rank-orderings - Conceptually easy to understand
- Holistic view of global sensitivity at a glance
independently of the of attributes - Applicable output in Preference Programming
framework - Additional information leads to fewer attainable
rankings - Connections to project prioritization
- Initial screening of project proposals for e.g.
portfolio-level analysis - Supports identification of clear decisions (cf.
Liesiö et al. 2007) - Select the ones surely in top 50
- Discard the ones surely outside top 50
14References
- Butler, J., Jia, J., Dyer, J. (1997). Simulation
Techniques for the Sensitivity Analysis of
Multi-Criteria Decision Models. EJOR 103,
531-546. - Keeney, R.L., See, K.E., von Winterfeldt, D.
(2006). Evaluating Academic Programs With
Applications to U.S. Graduate Decision Science
Programs. Oper. Res. 54, 813-828. - Kirkwood, G., Sarin R. (1985). Ranking with
Partial Information A Method and an Application.
Oper. Res. 33, 38-48 - Könnölä, T., Brummer, V., Salo A. (2007).
Diversity in Foresight Insights from the
Fostering of Innovation Ideas. Technologial
Forecasting Social Change 74, 608-626. - Liesiö, J., Mild, P., Salo, A., (2007).
Preference Programming for Robust Portfolio
Modeling and Project Selection. EJOR 181,
1488-1505. - Liu, N.C., Cheng, Y. (2005). The Academic Ranking
of World Universities. Higher Education in Europe
30, 127-136 - Mustajoki, J., Hämäläinen, R.P., Lindstedt,
M.R.K. (2006). Using intervals for Global
Sensitivity and Worst Case Analyses in
Multiattribute Value Trees. EJOR 174, 278-292. - Rios Insua, D., French, S. (1991). A Framework
for Sensitivity Analysis in Discrete
Multi-Objective Decision-Making. EJOR 54,
176-190. - Salo, A., Hämäläinen R.P. (1992). Preference
assessment by imprecise ratio statements. Oper.
Res. 40, 1053-1061.