Book Image

IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook

Book Image

IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook

Overview of this book

IBM SPSS Modeler is a data mining workbench that enables you to explore data, identify important relationships that you can leverage, and build predictive models quickly allowing your organization to base its decisions on hard data not hunches or guesswork. IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook takes you beyond the basics and shares the tips, the timesavers, and the workarounds that experts use to increase productivity and extract maximum value from data. The authors of this book are among the very best of these exponents, gurus who, in their brilliant and imaginative use of the tool, have pushed back the boundaries of applied analytics. By reading this book, you are learning from practitioners who have helped define the state of the art. Follow the industry standard data mining process, gaining new skills at each stage, from loading data to integrating results into everyday business practices. Get a handle on the most efficient ways of extracting data from your own sources, preparing it for exploration and modeling. Master the best methods for building models that will perform well in the workplace. Go beyond the basics and get the full power of your data mining workbench with this practical guide.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook
Credits
Foreword
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Using Auto Classifier to tune models


At first glance, the role of the Auto Classifier node seems to be limited to choosing an algorithm. In fact, it arguably allows one to avoid the choice of algorithm altogether in that it automatically chooses the top three and then creates an ensemble. However, model accuracy owes more to good data prep than algorithm choice. So what is one to make of Auto Classifier?

It is certainly true that, lacking the time or training for a proper modeling phase, the Auto Classifier would possibly do a better job than a data miner selecting a single method at random. It is worth noting, however, that some data mining experts have suggested that mastering a single method and its settings is often superior to attempting to use a host of algorithms without that mastery. Readers of an intermediate guide such as this one presumably have both the allocated time and the training to do a more complete job than just using the Auto Classifier on default settings. So how do...