A framework for attribute selection in marketing using rough computing and formal concept analysis

Marketing management employs various tools and techniques, including market research, to perform accurate marketing analysis. Information and communication technology provided a new dimension in marketing research to maximise the revenues and profits of the firm by identifying the chief attributes affecting decisions. In this paper, we present a hybrid approach for attribute selection in marketing based on rough computing and formal concept analysis. Our approach is aimed at handling an information system that contains numerical attribute values that are “almost similar” instead of “exact similar”. To handle such an information system we use two processes—pre-process and post-process. In pre-process, we use rough set on intuitionistic fuzzy approximation space with ordering rules to find knowledge and associations, whereas in post-process we use formal concept analysis to identify the chief attributes affecting decisions.