A Non-Numeric Approach to Multi-Criteria/Multi-Expert Aggregation Based
  on Approximate Reasoning
  We describe a technique that can be used for the fusion of multiple sources
of information as well as for the evaluation and selection of alternatives
under multi-criteria. Three important properties contribute to the uniqueness
of the technique introduced. The first is the ability to do all necessary
operations and aggregations with information that is of a nonnumeric linguistic
nature. This facility greatly reduces the burden on the providers of
information, the experts. A second characterizing feature is the ability
assign, again linguistically, differing importance to the criteria or in the
case of information fusion to the individual sources of information. A third
significant feature of the approach is its ability to be used as method to find
a consensus of the opinion of multiple experts on the issue of concern. The
techniques used in this approach are base on ideas developed from the theory of
approximate reasoning. We illustrate the approach with a problem of project
selection.
