Methods of Group Decisions and Aggregation of Experts’ Opinions
Expert evaluation is often the most reliable way to predict results of a certain process. Estimates from several experts are usually needed in order to achieve correct decision making. This chapter presents and systematically sorts methods for aggregation expert opinions with respect to specific features of the decision making process. Based on information theory, the chapter introduces concepts for understanding expert consensusand also discusses the impact of suppressing/emphasizing extreme estimates or of unequally valuing individual estimates. This chapter addresses the estimation of YES/NO binary results as well as numeric values of a certain attribute and also considers cases when only an estimate or a dispersion of opinions of experts is considered.