Determination of objective weights using a new MEthod based on the Removal Effects of Criteria (MEREC)

Abstract

The weights of criteria in multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems are essential elements that can significantly affect the results. Accordingly, researchers developed and presented several methods to determine criteria weights. Weighting methods could be objective, subjective, and integrated. This study introduces a new method, called MEREC (MEthod based on the Removal Effects of Criteria), to determine criteria’ objective weights. This method uses a novel idea for weighting criteria. After systematically introducing the method, we present some computational analyses to confirm the efficiency of the MEREC. Firstly, an illustrative example demonstrates the procedure of the MEREC for calculation of the weights of criteria. Secondly, a comparative analysis is presented through an example for validation of the introduced method’s results. Additionally, we perform a simulation-based analysis to verify the reliability of MEREC and the stability of its results. The data of the MCDM problems generated for making this analysis follow a prevalent symmetric distribution (normal distribution). We compare the results of the MEREC with some other objective weighting methods in this analysis, and the analysis of means (ANOM) for variances shows the stability of its results. The conducted analyses demonstrate that the MEREC is efficient to determine objective weights of criteria.