Analytic Hierarchy Process with the Correlation Effect via WordNet

Abstract

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a well-known approach in decision-making because of its simplicity and rationality. However, in conventional AHP, it cannot account for the correlation effect between criteria. In this paper, we use the lexical database, WordNet, to calculate the similarity between criteria set by a decision-maker. Then, we use the similarity matrix to process the factor analysis and obtain the independent factors, which are composed of their criteria. Finally, the weights of factors are derived to evaluate the alternatives. Moreover, we use a case study of online shopping to illustrate the proposed method and compare the result with the conventional AHP.

Keywords

• analytic hierarchy process
• independent criteria
• WordNet
• synset
• factor analysis