A statistical estimation model with qualitative input provides a mechanism to fuse human intuition in the form of qualitative information into a statistical model. We investigate the statistical properties of this model and devise a numerical computation method for a model subclass with a uniform correlation structure. We show that, within this subclass, qualitative information can be as useful as quantitative information. We also show that the correlation between variables compromises the accuracy of the statistical estimate. However, the adverse effect from the correlation can be minimal, as is illustrated in an application to portfolio selection. The proposed model, when used in conjunction with approximation techniques, is shown to have potential for portfolio selection with financial data.

翻译：一种具有定性输入的统计估计模型提供了一种机制，可将人类直觉以定性信息的形式融合到统计模型中。我们研究了该模型的统计特性，并为具有均匀相关结构的模型子类设计了一种数值计算方法。我们证明，在此子类中，定性信息可以与定量信息同样有效。我们还表明，变量之间的相关性会损害统计估计的准确性。然而，相关性的不利影响可以很小，正如在投资组合选择的应用中所说明的那样。所提出的模型与近似技术结合使用时，被证明在金融数据的投资组合选择中具有应用潜力。