The asymptotic effect of tuning parameters

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Dæhlen, Ingrid, Hjort, Nils Lid, Haff, Ingrid Hobæk
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Dæhlen, Ingrid
Hjort, Nils Lid
Haff, Ingrid Hobæk
author_facet Dæhlen, Ingrid
Hjort, Nils Lid
Haff, Ingrid Hobæk
contents Tuning parameters are parameters involved in an estimating procedure for the purpose of reducing the risk of some other estimator. Examples include the degree of penalization in penalized regression and likelihood problems, as well as the balance parameter in hybrid methods. Typically tuning parameters are set to the minimizers of some estimator of the risk, a step which introduces additional randomness and makes standard methodology inapplicable. We derive precise asymptotic theory for this situation. Our framework allows for smooth, but otherwise arbitrary, loss functions and for the risk to be estimated by cross-validation procedures. Results include consistency of the optimal estimator towards a well-defined quantity and asymptotic normality after proper scaling and centring. We give explicit forms and estimators for the limiting variance matrix and results sharply characterizing the distance from the training error to the cross-validated estimator of the risk.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_27679
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The asymptotic effect of tuning parameters
Dæhlen, Ingrid
Hjort, Nils Lid
Haff, Ingrid Hobæk
Statistics Theory
Tuning parameters are parameters involved in an estimating procedure for the purpose of reducing the risk of some other estimator. Examples include the degree of penalization in penalized regression and likelihood problems, as well as the balance parameter in hybrid methods. Typically tuning parameters are set to the minimizers of some estimator of the risk, a step which introduces additional randomness and makes standard methodology inapplicable. We derive precise asymptotic theory for this situation. Our framework allows for smooth, but otherwise arbitrary, loss functions and for the risk to be estimated by cross-validation procedures. Results include consistency of the optimal estimator towards a well-defined quantity and asymptotic normality after proper scaling and centring. We give explicit forms and estimators for the limiting variance matrix and results sharply characterizing the distance from the training error to the cross-validated estimator of the risk.
title The asymptotic effect of tuning parameters
topic Statistics Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.27679