CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation
CRITIC (CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) is a weight objective multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method introduced by Diakoulaki, D., Mavrotas, G., Papayannakis, L. in 1995. It turns a decision matrix of alternatives scored on multiple criteria into a structured, reproducible result.
Key highlights
- Follows a transparent, reproducible computational procedure that can be audited step by step.
- Handles multiple criteria of differing scales and units within a single decision matrix.
Intuition
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How it works
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When to use it
CRITIC assigns higher weights to criteria that have high variance (contrast) AND low correlation with other criteria (unique information). Criteria with redundant information (high positive correlation) get lower weights. It is fully data-driven — no DM input needed beyond criterion direction.
Strengths & limitations
- Follows a transparent, reproducible computational procedure that can be audited step by step.
- Handles multiple criteria of differing scales and units within a single decision matrix.
- Results depend on the chosen normalisation, weights, and parameter settings.
Common pitfalls
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Sources
- 1.Diakoulaki, D., Mavrotas, G., Papayannakis, L. (1995). Determining objective weights in multiple criteria problems: The CRITIC method. Computers & Operations Research
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Cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 2). CRITIC. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/decision-making/critic