Visualization Techniques for Confidence Based Data

Abstract

Decision support algorithms form an important part of the larger world of data mining. The purpose of a decision support system is to provide a human user with the context surrounding a complex decision to be based on computational analysis of the data at hand. Typically, the data to be considered cannot be adequately managed by a human decision maker because of its volume, complexity or both; data mining techniques are therefore used to discover patterns in the data and inform the user of their saliency in terms of a particular decision to be made. Visualization plays an important role in decision support, as it is through visualization that we can most easily comprehend complex data relationships (Tufte, 1997, 2001, 2006; Wright, 1997). Visualization provides a means of interfacing computationally discovered patterns with the strong pattern recognition system of the human brain. As designers of visualization for decision support systems, our task is to present computational data in ways that make intuitive sense based on our knowledge of the brain’s aptitudes and visual processing preferences. Confidence, in the context of a decision support system, is an estimate of the value a user should place in the suggestion made by the system. System reliability is the measure of overall accuracy; confidence is an estimate of the accuracy of the suggestion currently being presented. The idea of an associated confidence or certainty value in decision support systems has been incorporated in systems as early as MYCIN (Shortliffe, 1976; Buchanan & Shortliffe, 1984).