Information Technologies and Computer Engineering

A new method and corresponding information technology of ranging alternatives have been developed, which are based on con- ducting and further analysis of visual ternary comparisons and do not require any numerical or verbal evaluations from an expert or decision maker. Visual ternary comparisons are the arrangement of three alternatives on the shelves of preferences according to the principle "the better the alternative is, the higher its location is." In order for the process of identification of preferences to be reliable, visual and to activate a fast system of intuitive thinking, the decision-maker or expert is suggested to arrange the presented alternatives on the computer screen according to his preferences. Further numerical interpretation of visual ternary comparisons and methods of obtaining cardinal resulting rankings and ordinal resulting rankings of the entire set of alternatives are described. To increase the reliability of ranking results, it was proposed to use two different forms of numerical interpretation of visual ternary comparisons: the method of line sums (additive convolution) and the Saaty scale (multiplicative convolution). In the developed method, the requirement for the transitivity of preferences is mitigated, and the expanded context of comparisons of alternatives statistically smoothes minor errors and allows to diagnose gross errors. Information technology for ranging alternatives based on visual ternary comparisons which consists of nine interconnected stages is described. An exam- ple of the application of the developed method and information technology in the case of identification and correction of conflicting ternary comparisons is considered. The developed method and corresponding information technology are promising for use in various fields that require ranging of alternatives in qualitative and quantitative evaluation (decision-making, psychology, pedagogy, management, marketing, expert evaluations etc.).

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