Contextual Issues in the Framework of Multicriteria Decision Making

In this paper, using the framework of Multicriteria Decision Support Systems (MCDSSs), we try to identify what contextual knowledge is and where the contextual knowledge is necessary. The MCDSS framework is a good model to specify the exact role of the context because it is rather well structured and thoroughly studied. Our main observation is that contextual knowledge is especially useful to delimit the usual concepts of the domain and strongly influences the relationships between the concepts. We also point out the necessity to include a large quantity of contextual knowledge in the model, especially concerning alternatives and the decision maker, even if this later cannot be fully modeled.