A Comparative Investigation of TOPSIS, Factor Analysis, and Scale Gram Analytical Methods on Rural Development (A Case Study of Islamshahr Rural Development Level)

Rural areas have always played a significant role in the global economy by providing a variety of foods and raw materials. This role is much more prominent in developing countries. Rural development is also an important part of regional policies, covering agriculture, forestry, natural resource management, land use, and economic diversity in these areas. The present study focused on investigating rural development in rural areas of Islamshar County, Iran. Given the lack of productivity in this region and the fact that this county is so close to two metropolitan cities of Karaj and Tehran, it is necessary to examine the level of development of the villages in this county. Among various methods of ranking, the credit and point of rural development in this research were measured by AHP-based TOPSIS, factor analysis, and scale gram methods. Categorization by TOPSIS and factor analysis revealed close results considering 27 criteria for the evaluation of choices. Scale gram analysis generally confirmed these results. Also, the overall results show that the economic factor derived from the factor analysis method and the agricultural factor derived from the AHP method were acceptable. According to the viewpoint of the research population, many of the rural areas in the studied county were categorized in "deprived" group.