A fuzzy rule-based Fuzzy Inferior Ratio method with reliability factor

Abstract

Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) is a branch of decision-making method which able to deal with complex and conflicting decision problems. Besides, Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (FMCDM) method is later introduced to deal with vague and uncertain information in decision-making problems that imitates human perception in the evaluation process. Recently, Fuzzy Inferior Ratio (FIR) is developed as one of the effective FMCDM methods as it includes the compromise solution in which both distances to the Fuzzy Positive Ideal Solution (FPIS) and the Fuzzy Negative Ideal Solution (FNIS) are considered simultaneously. Nevertheless, in FIR, there is no consideration on the reliability of the information in the evaluation process. In this paper, an improvised FIR with reliability factor is introduced where the reliability factor is represented by Z-numbers. Furthermore, the lack of capability of providing systematic evaluation and consistent output raises a concern in most FMCDM methods including FIR. Hence, a decision-making procedure of Fuzzy Rule-Based FIR with reliability factor is also been proposed. A numerical example is given using the proposed procedure and a consistency analysis is carried out using the Spearman’s Rho Correlation to evaluate its effectiveness. It is found out that the proposed procedure gives a more comprehensive and systematic evaluation with the inclusion of reliability factor and the Fuzzy Rule-Based evaluation in FIR.