Inglis, Alan (2022) Visualisation Techniques for Interpreting Machine Learning Models. PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
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Abstract
With the increase of complex Machine Learning (ML) models making decisions in
everyday life in a wide range of fields from economics to healthcare, the demand
for Interpretable Machine Learning (IML) techniques has grown. One method to
broaden the understanding of the behaviour of a fitted ML model is through the
use of informative visualisations. Visualisations can aid in interpretation and can
provide a more thorough examination into the nature of the predictions generated
from an ML model. This is of particular importance when using so-called blackbox
models, such as random forests or Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART)
models.
In this thesis, various IML approaches are proposed through the use of novel
visualisations for displaying different metrics and model summaries which can be
used for examining the behaviour of a fitted ML model. First, we present flexible
methods for investigating variable importance, interactions, and variable effects by
presenting a suite of visualisations that can aid in the interpretation of statistical
and ML models through the use of model-specific and agnostic methods. Following
from this, motivated in part by the lack of existing visualisation methods and by
the rise in popularity of this particular model, we develop novel visualisations for
examining BART models that include examining the tree structures and, through
the posterior distribution, the uncertainty surrounding predictions. Lastly, we
demonstrate and discuss our implementation of the R package software vivid
(Variable Importance and Variable Interaction Displays) which is used to explore
the behaviour of fitted ML models. Here, we focus on key package features and
general architectural principles used in vivid when designing informative IML
visualisations and provide a practical illustration of the package in use.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
---|---|
Keywords: | Visualisation Techniques; Interpreting; Machine Learning Models; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics |
Item ID: | 17359 |
Depositing User: | IR eTheses |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jun 2023 09:40 |
URI: | https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/17359 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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