Random and fuzzy sets in coarse data analysis

Abstract

The theoretical aspects of statistical inference with imprecise data, with focus on random sets, are considered. On the setting of coarse data analysis imprecision and randomness in observed data are exhibited, and the relationship between probability and other types of uncertainty, such as belief functions and possibility measures, is analyzed. Coarsening schemes are viewed as models for perception-based information gathering processes in which random fuzzy sets appear naturally. As an implication, fuzzy statistics is statistics with fuzzy data. That is, fuzzy sets are a new type of data and as such, complementary to statistical analysis in the sense that they enlarge the domain of applications of statistical science. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.