Software Selection with Weighted Expert Judgments Approached Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process

Decision problems, which include multi criteria that are conflicting and take both qualitative and quantitative values, multi-criteria decision-making approaches are effective for process modeling and achieving a solution. Decision process which has more than one decision maker is called group decision making. Determining the weight of expert judgment in decisions is an important issue in group decision making. Experts which have different information level for different criteria when have equal weight in all decisions, solution would be reflected negatively. In this study the most appropriate software selection for Operations Research courses in Dokuz Eylül University at Department of Econometrics will be decided. Materials used in the education system, affects student achievement and the benefits to be obtained from the course. Today, a large number of software programs are used in operations research field that deal with decision analysis, optimization and statistical techniques, providing major benefits for the solution of large and complex real-life problems. Analytical Hierarchy Process questionnaire was administered with four expert who have of experience and knowledge at different levels in the field of Operations Research. The weights of decision makers in pairwise comparisons are determined with weight criteria such as; Consistency Ratio, Euclidean Distance, Minimum Violation and also Competency Scores which is obtained from developed scale that is specific for the problem. Three main criteria such as; Educational Usability, Learning Effectiveness, Vendor Features and also seventeen sub criteria are evaluated by Analytic Hierarchy Process. The results of Analytic Hierarchy Process with weighted expert judgments and Analytic Hierarchy Process with equal weighted are compared and effects of weight criteria in results are discussed