In the feature selection chapter, we describe several search procedures ("wrappers") that can be used to optimize the number of predictors. Some techniques were described in more detail than others. Although we do describe genetic algorithms and how they can be used for reducing the dimensions of the data, this ... [Read more...]

What is the objective of most data analysis? One way I think about it is that we are trying to discover or approximate what is really going on in our data (and in general, nature). However, I occasionally run into people think that if one model fulfills our expectations (e.... [Read more...]

I gave a talk at the Spring ENAR meetings this morning on some of the technical aspects of creating the book. The session was on reproducible research and the slides are here. I was dinged for not using git for version control (we used dropbox for simp... [Read more...]