INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 3, ISSUE 5, May 2014 ISSN 2277-8616 326 IJSTR©2014 www.ijstr.org A Designed Paradigm for Contestant Quality Evaluation using Analytic Hierarchy Process Alade O. A., Ganiyu R. A., Oladipupo E. T. Abstract: Election of contestants into positions in a civilized society is a product of choice among few or many alternatives. In order to make a good choice among the available alternatives, a number of criteria must be considered. Several methods had been adopted in the past at local, national and international scene but in most cases with prejudice and biasness. These had subsequently produced contentious results which eventually led to political violence and insecurity. This paper proposes a multi-criteria decision making algorithm which is based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for quality leadership selection, free of strive and violence. Alternative election contestants were considered; the required qualities for a post were defined. Their evaluations were translated into reciprocal matrix in order to determine the priority vector while the validity of the designed paradigm was assessed using secondary data. Out of the three alternative election contestants under consideration, the results of the designed paradigm show that the political aspirant Y is the best choice, followed by aspirant X and aspirant Z. That is, it can be inferred that aspirant Y is 3.87 times more preferable than choice Z, and choice Y is 1.3 times more preferable than choice X. Also, the obtained overall composite weight of 0.092 further proves that the result of the analysis is consistent. Thus, the practical application of the designed paradigm would eliminate an atmosphere of rancor, which may arise from unfair selection of contestants and decision making processes. Index Terms: Analytic hierarchy process, consistency ratio, priority vector, pair-wise comparison matrix, random index ———————————————————— 1 INTRODUCTION In computing, solving a problem requires many preliminary works. On conceiving the idea of a solution to a problem, the solution is presented in algorithmic paradigm of the flow in a logical view of computer. In this paper, an algorithmic flow of a mathematical solution to electing quality leaders is presented to solve political crisis and insecurity. In election contests, it is the expectation of the electorates to have a leader that will care for the welfare at the grass root. This leader must possess some qualities of life that can offer these demands of the electorates. These qualities are not hidden from the electorates since the political office seekers are also members of the public. Since leaderships of groups, unions or and organizations greatly determine the growth and image of such associations and governments are very critical in electing leaders. In most cases, election is based on a number of criteria. These criteria must be evaluated among various alternative candidates who are aspiring to take the responsibility of such leadership. Election of a candidate among many alternative contestants is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) process [1]. MCDM process has been widely used in various fields such as location selection, information project selection, material selection, management decisions, strategy selection, and problems relating to decision-making [2]. Multi-criteria decision making methods are classified into two: discrete and continuous methods based on the nature of alternatives to be considered in a decision making process [3]. Continuous method deals with quantities which vary continuously in the decision problem, such method includes linear /goal programming and aspiration based model. On the other hand, discrete method has a finite number of alternatives, a set objective, criteria for evaluating alternatives and a method for ranking the alternatives [4]. Discrete technique is further divided into two: weighing technique, such as simple additive weighting (SAW) [5]; ranking techniques, such as Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE)[6], Technique for Ordered Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) [5] and Ordered Weighted Average (OWA); and mixed techniques such as the ELECTRE [7], the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) [8], the Multi-Attribute Value Theory [9], and Value Focused Thinking (VFT) [10]. Discrete multi-criteria decision making analysis methods are most suitable for election of candidates into an office because the criteria for selection are discrete in nature with varying degree of intensity. 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Saaty Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) attempts to support multi-criteria decision analysis of decision variables. Thomas Satty created AHP in the late 1960’s in order to determine the relative importance of each variable in the decision making matrix on a pair-wise basis [11]. The AHP deals with independences among variables or cluster of decision structure to combine the statistic and judgmental information [12]. The analytic hierarchy process is a popular and classical method of evaluation where properties are derived from eigenvalue of the pair-wise comparison matrix (PGM) of a set of elements expressed onto ratio scales. It is based on the well-defined mathematical structure of consistent matrices and their associated right eigenvector’s ability to generate true or approximate weights. The AHP, among others uses the same approach as VFT; however the AHP adopts different approach in evaluating the weight and in assigning ___________________________  Ganiyu R. A., Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria (E-mail: raganiyu@lautech.edu.ng ).  Alade O. A., Department of Computer Science, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria (E-mail: kaleabel@gmail.com ).  Oladipupo E. T., Department of Computer Science, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria (E-mail: taiwotheophilus@gmail.com ).