The philosophy of soft sets is founded on the fundamental idea of parameterization, while Pawlak’s rough sets put more emphasis on the importance of granulation. As a multi-valued extension of soft sets, the newly emerging concept called N-soft sets can provide a finer granular structure with higher distinguishable power. This study offers a fresh insight into rough set theory from the perspective of N-soft sets. We reveal a close connection between N-soft sets and rough structures of various types. First, we show how the corresponding structures of Pawlak’s rough sets, tolerance rough sets and multigranulation rough sets can be derived from a given N-soft set. Conversely, we investigate the representation of these distinct rough structures using the corresponding notions derived from suitable N-soft sets. The applicability of these theoretical results is highlighted with a case study using real data regarding hotel rating. The established two-way correspondences between N-soft sets and diverse rough structures are constructive, which can bridge the gap between seemingly disconnected disciplines, and hopefully nourish the development of both rough sets and soft sets.
