Qualitative optimization in software engineering: A short survey
Some problems in software optimization involve qualitative (subjective) human input. Quantitative optimization uses heuristics/surrogates to quantify qualitative input. Qualitative optimization allows incomparability among solutions to find optimal one. Qualitative preference reasoning languages developed in AI are potentially useful. SBSE & recommender systems can readily leverage such qualitative formalisms.
qualitative optimization preferences search-based software engineering decision-support