Marc Pirlot – författare

Formal decision and evaluation models are sets of explicit and well-defined rules to collect, assess, and process information in order to be able to make recommendations in decision and/or evaluation processes. They are so widespread that almost no one can pretend not to have used or suffered the consequences of one of them.

Our earlier companion volume, Evaluation and Decision Models, heavily criticised formal models but also argued that they could be useful. On the other hand, Evaluation and Decision Models with Multiple Criteria is a guide aimed at helping the analyst to choose a model and use it consistently. We propose a sound analysis of techniques and our presentation can be extended to most decision and evaluation models as a "decision aiding methodology".

This volume is intended for the enlightened practitioner, for anyone who uses decision or evaluation models---for research or for applications---and is willing to question his practice, to have a deeper understanding of what he does.

The first part of the book is devoted to basic concepts and techniques for representing and solving decision problems, ranging from operational research to artificial intelligence. Later chapters provide an extensive overview of the decision-making process under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Finally, there are chapters covering various approaches to multi-criteria decision-making. Each chapter is written by experts in the topic concerned, and contains an extensive bibliography for further reading and reference.

The first part of the book is devoted to basic concepts and techniques for representing and solving decision problems, ranging from operational research to artificial intelligence. Later chapters provide an extensive overview of the decision-making process under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Finally, there are chapters covering various approaches to multi-criteria decision-making. Each chapter is written by experts in the topic concerned, and contains an extensive bibliography for further reading and reference.

This book showcases a large variety of multiple criteria decision applications (MCDAs), presenting them in a coherent framework provided by the methodology chapters and the comments accompanying each case study. The chapters describing MCDAs invite the reader to experiment with MCDA methods and perhaps develop new variants using data from these case studies or other cases they encounter, equipping them with a broader perception of real-world problems and how to overcome them with the help of MCDAs.