Attribute Selection Method based on Objective Data and Subjective Preferences in MCDM

Decision attributes are important parameters when choosing an alternative in a multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In order to select the optimal set of decision attributes, an analysis framework is proposed to illustrate the attribute selection problem. Then a two-step attribute selection procedure is presented based on the framework: In the first step, attributes are filtered by using correlation algorithm. In the second step, a multi-objective optimization model is constructed to screen attributes from the results of the first step. Finally, a case study is given to illustrate and verify this method. The advantage of this method is that both external attribute data and subjective decision preferences are utilized in a sequential procedure. It enhances the reliability of decision attributes and matches the actual decision-making scenarios better.