Accelerate the AHP Method by Indicator SubGroup

Abstract

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is an effective and commonly used approach for determining indicator weights in an index system. It establishes weights for each indicator through pairwise comparisons and specific algorithms. However, AHP faces three main challenges: (1) Difficulty in precisely quantifying pairwise relative ratios between indicators; (2) Impracticality when handling excessive indicators due to the overwhelming number of required pairwise comparisons; (3) Scarcity of experts sufficiently familiar with all indicators in large-scale systems. To address these issues, this paper proposes the AHP with Indicator Subgroup method. This innovative method categorizes indicators into multiple subgroups based on importance levels, then separately applies AHP to determine: (1) Weights among indicator subgroups, and (2) Weights of individual indicators within each subgroup. With these two weights, the final weights of each indicator in the index system is calculated and obtained. This approach effectively resolves AHP’s limitations and enhances its feasibility. This paper also demonstrates the method's effectiveness through application to a residential environment health index system.