Choosing DAG Models Using Markov and Minimal Edge Count in the Absence of Ground Truth

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ramsey, Joseph D., Andrews, Bryan, Spirtes, Peter
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916415726944256
author Ramsey, Joseph D.
Andrews, Bryan
Spirtes, Peter
author_facet Ramsey, Joseph D.
Andrews, Bryan
Spirtes, Peter
contents We give a novel nonparametric pointwise consistent statistical test (the Markov Checker) of the Markov condition for directed acyclic graph (DAG) or completed partially directed acyclic graph (CPDAG) models given a dataset. We also introduce the Cross-Algorithm Frugality Search (CAFS) for rejecting DAG models that either do not pass the Markov Checker test or that are not edge minimal. Edge minimality has been used previously by Raskutti and Uhler as a nonparametric simplicity criterion, though CAFS readily generalizes to other simplicity conditions. Reference to the ground truth is not necessary for CAFS, so it is useful for finding causal structure learning algorithms and tuning parameter settings that output causal models that are approximately true from a given data set. We provide a software tool for this analysis that is suitable for even quite large or dense models, provided a suitably fast pointwise consistent test of conditional independence is available. In addition, we show in simulation that the CAFS procedure can pick approximately correct models without knowing the ground truth.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_20187
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Choosing DAG Models Using Markov and Minimal Edge Count in the Absence of Ground Truth
Ramsey, Joseph D.
Andrews, Bryan
Spirtes, Peter
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Methodology
68T37
I.2.0; I.2.6; I.6.5
We give a novel nonparametric pointwise consistent statistical test (the Markov Checker) of the Markov condition for directed acyclic graph (DAG) or completed partially directed acyclic graph (CPDAG) models given a dataset. We also introduce the Cross-Algorithm Frugality Search (CAFS) for rejecting DAG models that either do not pass the Markov Checker test or that are not edge minimal. Edge minimality has been used previously by Raskutti and Uhler as a nonparametric simplicity criterion, though CAFS readily generalizes to other simplicity conditions. Reference to the ground truth is not necessary for CAFS, so it is useful for finding causal structure learning algorithms and tuning parameter settings that output causal models that are approximately true from a given data set. We provide a software tool for this analysis that is suitable for even quite large or dense models, provided a suitably fast pointwise consistent test of conditional independence is available. In addition, we show in simulation that the CAFS procedure can pick approximately correct models without knowing the ground truth.
title Choosing DAG Models Using Markov and Minimal Edge Count in the Absence of Ground Truth
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Methodology
68T37
I.2.0; I.2.6; I.6.5
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.20187