Development and evaluation of a new tool for multiple criteria decision making

Abstract

Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is intricate in the medical domain. The purpose of this study was to develop a new software tool called ‘Expository Posthaste Effective Resemblant Tool (ExPERT)’ for MCDM in 2018–2019 in multi-stages. First, scenario and MCDM steps were determined. Then MCDM steps were implemented in HTML/CSS/JavaSript and the query was sent to the server using a PHP script. After that, the tool was evaluated in real clinical settings. The developed tool included dynamic interconnected weight assignment of factors, visualisation of implicit knowledge, incorporating written descriptions, and instant feedback to change implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge. As such, the tool enables the user to produce visual presentations, simultaneously display multi-criteria decisions, and provide written feedback on user-assigned weightings. Using a visual presentation, this tool can potentially reduce the time required to assign weightings to different criteria, easy to use, and eliminating the need for specific training of participants. Copyright © 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.