On multi-granular fuzzy linguistic modeling in group decision making problems: A systematic review and future trends

The multi-granular fuzzy linguistic modeling allows the use of several linguistic term sets in fuzzy linguistic modeling. This is quite useful when the problem involves several people with different knowledge levels since they could describe each item with different precision and they could need more than one linguistic term set. Multi-granular fuzzy linguistic modeling has been frequently used in group decision making field due to its capability of allowing each expert to express his/her preferences using his/her own linguistic term set. The aim of this research is to provide insights about the evolution of multi-granular fuzzy linguistic modeling approaches during the last years and discuss their drawbacks and advantages. A systematic literature review is proposed to achieve this goal. Additionally, some possible approaches that could improve the current multi-granular linguistic methodologies are presented. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.