The evidential reasoning approach to synthesizing linguistic judgment information of experts under incomplete information

A new approach based on evidential reasoning is introduced to synthesize linguistic judgment information of experts. Firstly, the basic probability assignment (BPA) of each focal element is calculated by dealing with the incomplete linguistic decision matrix given by different experts. The consistence and adjustment problem for the BPA among experts is analyzed so as to propose the rule of combination based on relative reliability. Then the BPA values of all focal elements are integrated by improved rule of combination. The values of belief function and plausibility function are calculated and used to rank all decision alternatives. An example is presented to demonstrate the implementation of this method.