Use Random Selection for Now: Investigation of Few-Shot Selection Strategies in LLM-based Text Augmentation for Classification

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Cegin, Jan, Pecher, Branislav, Simko, Jakub, Srba, Ivan, Bielikova, Maria, Brusilovsky, Peter
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866917802144694272
author Cegin, Jan
Pecher, Branislav
Simko, Jakub
Srba, Ivan
Bielikova, Maria
Brusilovsky, Peter
author_facet Cegin, Jan
Pecher, Branislav
Simko, Jakub
Srba, Ivan
Bielikova, Maria
Brusilovsky, Peter
contents The generative large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used for data augmentation tasks, where text samples are paraphrased (or generated anew) and then used for classifier fine-tuning. Existing works on augmentation leverage the few-shot scenarios, where samples are given to LLMs as part of prompts, leading to better augmentations. Yet, the samples are mostly selected randomly and a comprehensive overview of the effects of other (more ``informed'') sample selection strategies is lacking. In this work, we compare sample selection strategies existing in few-shot learning literature and investigate their effects in LLM-based textual augmentation. We evaluate this on in-distribution and out-of-distribution classifier performance. Results indicate, that while some ``informed'' selection strategies increase the performance of models, especially for out-of-distribution data, it happens only seldom and with marginal performance increases. Unless further advances are made, a default of random sample selection remains a good option for augmentation practitioners.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_10756
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Use Random Selection for Now: Investigation of Few-Shot Selection Strategies in LLM-based Text Augmentation for Classification
Cegin, Jan
Pecher, Branislav
Simko, Jakub
Srba, Ivan
Bielikova, Maria
Brusilovsky, Peter
Computation and Language
The generative large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used for data augmentation tasks, where text samples are paraphrased (or generated anew) and then used for classifier fine-tuning. Existing works on augmentation leverage the few-shot scenarios, where samples are given to LLMs as part of prompts, leading to better augmentations. Yet, the samples are mostly selected randomly and a comprehensive overview of the effects of other (more ``informed'') sample selection strategies is lacking. In this work, we compare sample selection strategies existing in few-shot learning literature and investigate their effects in LLM-based textual augmentation. We evaluate this on in-distribution and out-of-distribution classifier performance. Results indicate, that while some ``informed'' selection strategies increase the performance of models, especially for out-of-distribution data, it happens only seldom and with marginal performance increases. Unless further advances are made, a default of random sample selection remains a good option for augmentation practitioners.
title Use Random Selection for Now: Investigation of Few-Shot Selection Strategies in LLM-based Text Augmentation for Classification
topic Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.10756