Shortcomings of the AHP Method

This chapter investigates and examines a general criticism of the AHP method and 30 specific subjects, shortcomings and drawbacks. It establishes the procedure as follows: These subjects have been identified and analysed in depth by these authors, according to their own research and methodology, not using mathematics, but reasoning, common sense and examples. After each examination, opinions, comments and views of different researchers on each subject are transcribed verbatim. Naturally, there are subjects that merit a good deal of attention from many scholars while others have been considered by only one or two, or even by nobody. The latter, in an amount of three, correspond to subjects that have been not addressed in the literature. That is, out of 30 subjects proposed and analysed in this book, 27 have also received attention from other researchers; the remaining three are identified by these authors. The chapter ends with a table vis-à-vis that expresses in one column these authors’ viewpoint on each subject (in general, only a broad opinion), and in another column, expressions from other researchers. Not assessments are made considering both opinions, because the aim of the table is to facilitate the reader to make comparisons, and thus, allowing he/she to extract his/her own conclusions.