This study determines the effectiveness of intuitionistic-fuzzy multi-attribute decision-making (IF-MADM) for making group decisions in practice. The effectiveness of the method is measured in terms of four dimensions: applicability, efficacy, efficiency and informativeness. To measure the efficacy, an IF-MADM model that has been recently proposed, AHP and the TOPSIS approach, which are compensatory models for group MADM, are used to model and solve the same collective decision. Using non-parametric statistical tests for data analytics, a ‘similarity confirmation method’ is proposed for a pair-wise test. This is to determine whether the score vectors are similar. Score vectors are used to determine the final ordinal ranks and whose scales differ greatly for different MADM methods. Since the latter two MADM models are both trustworthy with a known range of applications, any similarity in the results verifies the efficacy of IF-MADM. Using this process, the applicability of IF-MADM modelling is demonstrated. The efficiency and informativeness are also benchmarked and justified in terms of the model’s ability to produce a more informed decision. These results are of interest to practitioners for the selection and application of MADM models. Finally, the selection of a senior centre, which is a real group decision problem, is used to illustrate these. This extends the empirical application of IF-MADM, as relatively few studies practically compare issues for IF-MADM with those for other MADM models. The study also supports a rarely studied non-clinical healthcare decision that is relevant because there are many aging societies.