ML Wiki

Rank Reversal

Many pair-wise comparison MCDA methods (such as ELECTRE and PROMETHEE) suffer from rank reversal:

• the relative position of two alternatives may be influenced by the presence of a third one
• i.e. Independence to Third Alternatives criterion is not satisfied

A position of two alternatives can be affected by

• removing Non-Discriminating Criteria
• removing / adding a copy of an alternative
• removing / adding a new criteria
• presence of a dominated alternative
• removing a dominated alternative

This may lead to:

• Risk of manipulation

This issue occurs in:

• ELECTRE
• PROMETHEE both I and II (see Rank Reversal in PROMETHEE)

Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rank_reversals_in_decision-making

Sources

• Decision Engineering (ULB)
• An Introduction to Multicriteria Decision Aid: The PROMETHEE and GAIA Methods, Yves De Smet, Karim Lidouh, 2013