Using the transferable belief model and a qualitative possibility theory approach on an illustrative example: The assessment of the value of a candidate

Abstract

The problem of assessing the value of a candidate is viewed here as a multiple combination problem. On the one hand, a candidate can be evaluated according to different criteria, and on the other hand, several experts are supposed to assess the value of candidates according to each criterion. Criteria are not equally important, experts are not equally competent or reliable. Moreover, levels of satisfaction of criteria, or levels of confidence are only assumed to take their values in linearly ordered scales, whose nature is rather qualitative. The problem is discussed within two frameworks, the transferable belief model (TBM) and the qualitative possibility theory (QPT). They respectively offer a quantitative and a qualitative setting for handling the problem, thus providing a way to emphasize what are the underlying assumptions in each approach. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.