A systematic review on multi‐criteria decision‐making methods in educational research

Abstract The aim of this study is to obtain an overview of the literature on multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) methods in educational research, to map the literature, to identify existing knowledge and application areas, to reveal the methods used and their purposes of use, and to reveal the thematic structure of the field. This study followed a systematic review methodology covering 328 studies obtained from Web of Science, Scopus and ERIC databases. According to the findings of the study, the related literature has shown a significant growth trend in the last two decades. Although journals from various disciplines contribute to the literature, journals in the field of operations research and management science dominate the literature. Established methods such as AHP, TOPSIS and fuzzy AHP are the most commonly used. However, methods such as fuzzy DEMATEL, BWM, Delphi and fuzzy Delphi have been included in educational research in the last decade. Although crisp methods dominate the educational literature, fuzzy methods have been on the rise in recent years. In addition, hybrid approaches using more than one method have shown an increasing trend in recent years. The most common decision problematics in the literature are ranking, choice, description and sorting. While more than half of the literature focuses on higher education‐level problems, the highest diversity of topics is seen in higher education. This study reveals 13 educational themes in the literature and performance evaluation is the leading topic. In addition, this study also reveals periodical changes of theme.