1.
4 BASIC DATA MINING TASKS
Data mining involve many different algorithms to accomplish different
tasks. All these algorithms attempt to fit a model to the data. The algorithms to
the characteristics of the data being examined. Data mining algorithms can be
characterized as on three parts:
o Model : The purpose of the algorithm is to fit model to the data.
o Preference: Some criteria must be used to fit one model over another.
o Search : All algorithms require some techniques to search the data.
Predictive data mining tasks come up with a model from the available data
set that is helpful in predicting unknown or future values of another data set of
interest. A medical practitioner trying to diagnose a disease based on the medical
test results of a patient can be considered as a predictive data mining task.
Descriptive data mining tasks usually finds data describing patterns and
comes up with new, significant information from the available data set. A retailer
trying to identify products that are purchased together can be considered as a
descriptive data mining task.
a) Classification
Classification derives a model to determine the class of an object based on
its attributes. A collection of records will be available, each record with a set of
attributes. One of the attributes will be class attribute and the goal of classification
task is assigning a class attribute to new set of records as accurately as possible.
Example : An airport security screening station is used to determine if
passengers are potential terrorists or criminals. To do this the face of each
passenger is scanned and its basic pattern (distance between eyes ,size and shape of
mouth , shape of head , etc.) is identified. This is pattern is compared to entries in a
database o see if it matches any patterns that are associated with known offenders.
b) Regression
The regression task is similar to classification. The main difference is that
the predictable attribute is a continuous number. Regression techniques have been
widely studied for centuries in the field of statistics. Linear regression and logistic
regression are the most popular regression methods. Other regression techniques
include regression trees and neural networks. Regression tasks can solve many
business problems.
Example : predict wind velocities based on past temperature, air pressure,
and humidity.
c) Time - Series Analysis
Time series is a sequence of events where the next event is determined by
one or more of the preceding events. Time series reflects the process being
measured and there are certain components that affect the behavior of a process.
Time series analysis includes methods to analyze time-series data in order to
extract useful patterns, trends, rules and statistics.
Example : Stock market prediction is an important application of time-
series analysis. A person is trying to determine whether to purchase stock from
companies X,Y,Z. For period of one month he charts the daily stock price for each
company .Based on this he take his decisions.
d) Prediction
Prediction task predicts the possible values of missing or future data.
Prediction involves developing a model based on the available data and this model
is used in predicting future values of a new data set of interest.
Example : A model can predict the income of an employee based on
education, experience and other demographic factors like place of stay, gender etc.
Also prediction analysis is used in different areas including medical diagnosis,
fraud detection etc.
e) Association Rules
Association discovers the association or connection among a set of items.
Association identifies the relationships between objects. Association analysis is
used for commodity management, advertising, catalog design, direct marketing etc.
Example: A retailer can identify the products that normally customers
purchase together or even find the customers who respond to the promotion of
same kind of products. If a retailer finds that bread and jam are bought together
mostly, he can put bread on sale to promote the sale of jam.
f) Sequence Discovery
Sequence analysis or Sequence discovery is used to determine sequential
patterns in data. These patterns are based on a time sequence of actions. These
patterns are similar to associations in that data are found to be related, but the
relationship is based on time.
In market basket analysis the items are purchased at same time , but in the
sequence discovery the items are purchased over time in some order.
Example :Most people who purchase CD players may be found to purchase
CDs within one week and speaker ,and then home theater
g) Clustering
Clustering is used to identify data objects that are similar to one another. The
similarity can be decided based on a number of factors like purchase behavior,
responsiveness to certain actions, geographical locations and so on.
Example : An insurance company can cluster its customers based on age,
residence, income etc. This group information will be helpful to understand the
customers better and hence provide better customized services.
h)Summarization
Summarization is the generalization of data. A set of relevant data is
summarized which result in a smaller set that gives aggregated information of the
data.
Example: The shopping done by a customer can be summarized into total
products, total spending, offers used, etc. Such high level summarized information
can be useful for sales or customer relationship team for detailed customer and
purchase behavior analysis. Data can be summarized in different abstraction levels
and from different angles.