Fuzzy Linguistic Approaches in Multi-Criteria Decision Making
Summary
Fuzzy linguistic approaches extend classical multi-criteria decision making by allowing decision makers to express preferences in natural language rather than precise numbers. By modelling qualitative assessments as linguistic terms—such as “high”, “medium” or “low”—and associating these terms with fuzzy sets, uncertainty and vagueness inherent in human judgement can be accommodated. Recent developments have focused on enhancing the expressiveness of linguistic information, improving aggregation operators, and integrating behavioural considerations into ranking methods. Such advances enable more realistic modelling of expert opinions across domains as diverse as corporate investment, tourism development and customer service management. Practical benefits include greater transparency in decision processes, improved robustness to imprecise data and enhanced adaptability to group decision-making contexts.
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Fuzzy Linguistic Approaches in Multi-Criteria Decision Making publication trend
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Technical terms
Fuzzy linguistic variable: A variable whose values are words or sentences from natural language, each represented by a fuzzy set.
Linguistic term set: A finite, ordered collection of labels (e.g. “low”, “medium”, “high”) used to describe qualitative assessments.
2-tuple linguistic representation model: A method that encodes linguistic terms and associated numeric deviations into ordered pairs for precise computation.
Probabilistic linguistic term set (PLTS): An extension of linguistic term sets where each term is given with a probability, modelling hesitation and distributional uncertainty.
VIKOR method: A compromise ranking technique in MCDM that identifies solutions closest to the ideal by evaluating group utility and individual regret.
TODIM method: A behavioural MCDM approach based on prospect theory, which assesses gains and losses relative to a reference point using a dominance measure.
References
- A multidimensional decision with nested probabilistic linguistic term sets and its application in corporate investment. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja (2021).
- Wasserstein distance-based probabilistic linguistic TODIM method with application to the evaluation of sustainable rural tourism potential. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja (2021).
- Fuzzy Logic and Decision Making Applied to Customer Service Optimization. Axioms (2023).
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