A Method of Multiattribute Decision Making with Incomplete Information

A precise determination of a multiattribute utility function of a decision maker or a group of decision makers requires considerable information that may not be available in many decision situations. In this paper the method HOPIE, which allows one to determine a set of utility functions consistent with the incomplete information received from the decision maker, is proposed. The method is based on holistic judgments of hypothetical alternatives defined by a certain factorial design. It requires that the evaluation of the alternatives be given on an interval scale. The method can also accommodate other types of additional information such as pairwise comparisons.