A Novel Variable Selection Approach Based on Multi-criteria Decision Analysis


Xie S., Zhang J.

19th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, IPMU 2022, Milan, Italy, 11 - 15 July 2022, vol.1602 CCIS, pp.115-127, (Full Text) identifier

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • Volume: 1602 CCIS
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/978-3-031-08974-9_9
  • City: Milan
  • Country: Italy
  • Page Numbers: pp.115-127
  • Keywords: Complex systems, Machine learning, TOPSIS, Variable importance measure, Variable selection
  • TED University Affiliated: No

Abstract

© 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Real-world complex systems, such as transportation and insurance systems, have constantly produced massive data, and the variables used to capture their variability may be overwhelming. Therefore, it is important to balance the model’s interpretability and prediction accuracy when building a predictive model. Keeping a balance on these two aspects may significantly improve prediction reliability and maintain key knowledge or information from complex systems so that the overall control and management of the complex system are statistically optimal. The paper proposes a novel approach for variable selection based on the importance measures from different data sources or different types of measures of importance obtained from machine learning models. The method formulates the variable selection problem in terms of multi-criteria decision analysis. It aims to bring a systematic way for decision-making in terms of variable selection to build more interpretable predictive models.