Abstract:In this paper, for evaluating and comparing the heterogeneous balance-variation order pair of any two decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) theories, in which one has larger balance and smaller variation, and on the contrary, the other one has smaller balance and larger variation, the first author proposed a useful integrated validity index to evaluate any DEMATEL theory by combining Liu's balanced coefficient and Liu's variation coefficient .Using this new validity index, three kinds of DEMATELs with a same direct relational matrix, including the traditional DEMATEL, shrinkage DEMATEL and balance DEMATEL, are compared, a simple validity experiment is conducted, the results show that the balance DEMATEL has the best performance, the performance of the shrinkage coefficient is better than that of the traditional DEMATEL.