Textbook Selection Using Fuzzy PROMETHEE II Method

Abstract

This study proposes the Fuzzy-PROMETHEE method for the textbook selection. The triangular fuzzy number and ranking method are integrated into the PROMETHEE II method. The proposed method can handle the uncertainty in the decision making. An example demonstrates the usability and validity of the proposed method. As the transparent book selection policy is promoted in many institutions, this method can be realized as a platform that receives input, feedback and comments from various participating users. Index Terms—Decision making, Fuzzy PROMETHEE, textbook selection. I. I NTRODUCTION Textbook serves as a tool, guidebook, reference and tutor in many high institutions (1). Lecturers throughout the world depend heavily on the content of textbooks for module delivery (2). Therefore, textbook selection has been one of the important tasks for the faculty/school in high institutions. Research has been carried out to evaluate different textbooks at some institutions to assist lecturers in selecting a proper textbook (3). However, this textbook evaluation is not a common practice in tertiary institutions. Hence, there is no surprise that there exists no proper process when acquiring or readopting a textbook in relevant modules. There is no indication of patterns on how textbook selection and the exact role of textbooks in classroom. However, there is one thing that is common - a majority of instructors prefer to have a textbook that would best meet their students' needs and become a good resource for class activities such as case study analysis, problem discussion and tutorial. We realize an efficient textbook selection with the assistant of the Fuzzy PROMETHEE method. This method is described below. PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enriching Evaluations) was firstly developed by Brans in 1982 at the conference (4), and then further developed as a family (5). PROMETHEE I deals with a partial preorder, PROMETHEE II deals with a complete preorder, PROMETHEE III deals with an interval order emphasizing indifference, PROMETHEE IV deals with continuous set of possible alternatives, PROMETHEE V supports the optimization under constraints and PROMETHEE VI is a representation of the human brain. (6) reviewed a number of PROMETHEE's applications