A new method for interval fuzzy preference relations in group decision making based on plant growth simulation algorithm and COWA

摘要

Interval fuzzy preference relations (IFPRs) have been widely adopted in describing vagueness and uncertainty in real-life decision problems. Different methods have been applied in aggregating decision makers' (DMs') IFPRs. Nevertheless, the objective weights of DMs are often neglected in the group decision literature. Besides, the commonly methods used in aggregating decision makers' (DMs') IFPRs may make the final result too average. This paper investigates the plant growth simulation algorithm (PGSA) to aggregate interval fuzzy preference relations (IFPRs) and then derives the objective weights of decision makers (DMs) based on the deviation measure method. Next, the weighted aggregation IFPR is obtained by PGSA and the alternatives are ranked based on the continuous ordered weighted averaging (COWA) operator. The new aggregation method creatively converts the elements of IFPRs into two-dimensional coordinates and the ideal IFPR can be aggregated by PGSA based on the minimum Euclidean distance model. Then the weight of each DM can be derived according to the Euclidean distance between the individual IFPR and ideal IFPR based on the deviation measure method. Finally, a weighted aggregated IFPR can be obtained by PGSA and the ranking of alternatives is obtained by the COWA operator. Numerical examples are given to verify the efficiency and superiority of the method.