A multiple attributes decision making method using individual and collaborative attribute data in a fuzzy environment

Although multiple attribute decision making (MADM) problems with both individual attribute data of a single alternative and collaborative attribute data of pairwise alternatives exist in the real world, they have seldom been a focus of research. This paper proposes a MADM method using individual and collaborative attribute data in a fuzzy environment, in which experts use linguistic variables to express their opinions. In the method, first, the evaluation matrix of individual attributes date and the judgment matrix of collaborative attributes data are constructed. Then, the central dominance of one alternative outranking other all alternatives is defined for aggregating the collaborative data. From this, an integrated decision matrix incorporating individual and collaborative attribute data is constructed. Further, based on an extended TOPSIS, the fuzzy positive-ideal solution (FPIS) and the fuzzy negative-ideal solution (FNIS) are determined, and the relative closeness of each alternative to the FPIS and FNIS is calculated to determine the ranking order of all alternatives. Finally, two examples are used to illustrate the applicability of the proposed method. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.