Evaluating Multiple-Attribute Decision Support Systems

✍ Scribed by Enrique G. Zapatero; Charles H. Smith; H. Roland Weistroffer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 195 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1057-9214
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1360(199707)6:4<201::aid-mcda138>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

Differences in the perceived usefulness of five multiple-attribute decision support systems versus a basic spreadsheet are empirically assessed. Twenty-four college faculty members participated in a repeated measures experiment in which they used decision support software for personal computers to analyse semistructured multiple-attribute problems. The software packages employed were Criterium, Expert Choice, Logical Decision, VIMDA, VISA and the spreadsheet package Quattro Pro. A questionnaire was developed to assess user-friendliness of the software, confidence in the procedure implemented by the software, and users' confidence in their results when employing the decision aids. Time to reach a decision was also measured. Significant differences were found in the overall way users ranked these aids, in the perceived user-friendliness and the confidence in procedure among aids, and in the time it took to arrive at a result. Comments from users are also reported. &