Qualitative scales formed by linguistic terms are used by different disciplines to determine preferences and different aspects of individuals' lives. Although it is usual to assign numbers to the response categories of scales, it is not suitable when individuals perceive different proximities...

In this paper we provide a two-stage group decision-making procedure for ranking a great number of alternatives. Since individuals usually have incon-sistencies in the pairwise comparison of alternatives, we allow agents to assess alternatives one by one using linguistic labels. This information...

In several economic fields, such as those related to health, education or poverty, the individuals’ characteristics are measured by bounded variables. Accordingly, these characteristics may be indistinctly represented by achievements or shortfalls. A difficulty arises when inequality needs to...