Abstract
This article investigated the impact of categorical input encoding and scaling approaches on neural network sensitivity and overall classification performance in the context of predicting the repeat viewing propensity of movie goers. The results show that neural network out of sample minimum sensitivity and overall classification performance are indifferent to the scaling of the categorical inputs. However, the encoding of inputs had a significant impact on classification accuracy and utilising ordinal or thermometer encoding approaches for categorical inputs significantly increases the out of sample accuracy of the neural network classifier. These findings confirm that the impact of categorical encoding is problem specific for an ordinal approach, and support thermometer encoding as most suitable for categorical inputs. The classification performance of neural networks was compared against a logistic regression model and the results show that in this instance, the non-parametric approach does not offer any advantage over standard statistical models.
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Fitkov-Norris, E., Vahid, S., Hand, C. (2012). Evaluating the Impact of Categorical Data Encoding and Scaling on Neural Network Classification Performance: The Case of Repeat Consumption of Identical Cultural Goods. In: Jayne, C., Yue, S., Iliadis, L. (eds) Engineering Applications of Neural Networks. EANN 2012. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 311. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32909-8_35
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32909-8_35
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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