SMCE / NAIADE

Submitted by Sabrina Lambat | published 14th Apr 2011 | last updated 10th Jan 2020

Novel approach to imprecise assessment and decision environments (NAIADE) / Social Multi−Criteria Evaluation process (SMCE) method

Naiade is a multi-criteria assessment (MCA) method able to deal with both qualitative and quantitative information concerning policy socio-environmental evaluation problems. Naiade has been used in a participatory way on several occasions, by means of combining the use of MCA software with input from focus groups and interviews resulting in the Social Multi−Criteria Evaluation process (SMCE) method.

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SMCE

Naiade also performs an equity and conflict analysis in order to identify those alternatives that could reach a certain degree of consensus or would provide a higher degree of equity among different interests groups. It is a flexible method suitable for real−world applications, and in particular, for situations where fuzzy uncertainty or indeterminacy is recognised.

The approach of NAIADE entails the construction of an impact (evaluation) matrix which includes, on one axis, a limited set of given policy alternatives, and on the other, a limited set of different criteria by which such policy alternatives are to be evaluated. Inside the matrix measurements of all the policy alternatives with respect to each evaluation criterion are given and the different alternatives are assessed by means of pair-wise comparison. This aggregation procedure takes into account both the number of the criteria in favour of each alternative and the intensity of the actors' preferences. In principle, the determination of the criterion scores is independent from the actors' preferences.