Abstract
It is a methodology developed to construct a preferential structure of a decision making group, by aggregating their preference upon majority rule on each pair-comparison. In so doing, those involved gain a deep understanding of the problem and critical discussion is stimulated. It is well known that majority rule does not satisfy transitivity. Extending the method by Bowman et al., the problem is formulated to find the nearest transitive structures from the result of majority rule. The problem is equivalent to a (0-1) programming problem to minimize the value of majority decision function. Using the Extended Lawler and Bell's method, it is solved through a computer. The solution is shown as hierarchical directed graphs.
An example is presented, which is a structuring problem of research fields in environmental science in view of urgency. This methodology constructs transitive sturctures from opinions of nine experts. Through the example, the effectiveness of this method is explained.
