Author

Baback Vaziri

Date of Award

5-2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Industrial Engineering

First Advisor

Yuehwern Yih

Second Advisor

Tom Morin

Committee Chair

Yuehwern Yih

Committee Co-Chair

Tom Morin

Committee Member 1

Mark Lehto

Committee Member 2

Robert Plante

Abstract

Ranking methods are an essential tool to help make decisions. This dissertation document examines different aspects of the theory and application of pairwise comparison ranking methods, specifically those that use Markov chains. First, a new method is developed to solve a traditional recruiting problem, and is shown to improve the predictive power of its ranking. Next, modifications are made to an existing method that theoretically improves the reliability, while maintaining the rank integrity. Last, a framework is developed that defines a fair and comprehensive ranking method, and several popular methods are evaluated in their ability to adhere to the said framework.

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