A procedure for selection of a multiobjective technique with application to water and mineral resources

The problem of selecting the appropriate multiobjective solution technique to solve an arbitrary multiobjective decision problem is considered. Various classification schemes of available techniques are discussed, leading to the development of a set of 28 model choice criteria and an algorithm for model choice. This algorithm divides the criteria into four groups, only one of which must be reevaluated for each decision problem encountered. The model choice problem is itself modeled as a multiobjective decision problem—strongly influenced, however, by the individual performing the analysis. The appropriate technique is selected for implementation by use of the compromise programming technique. Two example problems are presented to demonstrate the use of this algorithm. The first is concerned with ranking a predefined set of river basin planning alternatives with multiple noncommensurate ordinally ranked consequences. The second deals with coal blending and is modeled by dual objective linear programming. An appropriate multiobjective solution technique is selected for each of these two examples.