Multicriteria decision methodologies supporting decision processes: empirical examples

It has been generally agreed that Multiple Criteria Decision Analyses (MCDA) can provide a very useful support in order to structure decision processes allowing several criteria to be taken into account in a complex situation. Moreover, they are designed to help the Decision Makers (DMs) to integrate the different options. However, as the MCDA methods are countless, it is necessary to deeply reflect on the most suitable method for the decision context in exam. In fact, failure to identify the real nature of the decision problem could lead to the application of the wrong methodology placing the analysis at risk and greatly diminishing the relevance of the results. The aim of this paper is to provide some reflections that could help an analyst in choosing a method in decision-making or decision-aiding processes. Three empirical case studies are used to critically analyse three different MCDA methodologies: Analytic Network Process, Quality Function Deployment and Dominance Based Rough-Sets Approach. The case studies refer to a transport problem, the design of a cohousing and the location of an undesirable facility. The applications presented permits to point out some general reflections about the main characteristics of the methodologies considered, the necessary data and the nature of the results.