| Level of Importance | Definition | Interpretation |
| 1 | Equally preferred | Two activities contribute equally to the objective |
| 3 | Moderately | Experience and judgment slightly favour one activity over another |
| 5 | Strongly | Experience and judgment strongly or essentially favour one activity over another |
| 7 | Very strongly | An activity is strongly favoured over another and its dominance demonstrated in practice |
| 9 | Extremely | The evidence favouring one activity over another is of the highest degree possible for affirmation |
| 2, 4, 6, 8, ... | Intermediate values | Used to represent a compromise between preferences listed above |