Identification of Determinant Attributes Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

This article develops a new approach, using information available in the intermediate and final phases of the analytic hierarchy process, to explicitly identify which attributes or criteria are determinant in making a choice among several given alternatives. The approach parallels that used in the popular direct dual questioning determinant attribute (DQDA) analysis, which has been widely used in marketing applications. Using the hierarchical structure and pairwise comparisons, the combined relative priorities of the criteria are compared with the relative priorities of the choice alternatives to compute determinance scores. These values are the basis for identifying which of the criteria are both important and different across alternatives (i.e., determinant). This new approach overcomes the potential ambiguities of traditional direct dual questioning methods. Moreover the approach is easily extended to include decision hierarchies with multiple levels of attributes and subattributes.