Many decision-making problems involve a number of factors. For example, if you are considering a new job, factors might include starting salary, career advancement opportunities, work location, the people you would be working with on the job, the type of work you would be doing, and assorted fringe benefits. If you are considering the purchase of a personal computer, there are a number of important factors to consider as well: price, memory, compatibility with other computers, flexibility, brand name, software availability, the existence of any user groups, and the support of the computer manufacturer and the local computer store. In buying a new or used car, such factors as color, style, make and model, year, number of miles (if it’s a used car), price, dealership or person you are purchasing the car from, warranties, and cost of insurance may be important factors to consider.

In multifactor decision making, individuals subjectively and intuitively consider the various factors in making their selection. For difficult decisions, a quantitative approach is recommended. All of the important factors can then be given appropriate weights, and each alternative, such as a car, a computer, or a new job prospect, can be evaluated in terms of these factors. This approach is called the multifactor evaluation process (MFEP).

In other cases, we may not be able to quantify our preferences for various factors and alternatives. We then use the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This process uses pairwise comparisons and then computes the weighting factors and evaluations for us. We begin with a discussion of the MFEP.