Estimating the error rate of a prediction rule: improvement on cross-validation

B Efron - Journal of the American statistical association, 1983 - Taylor & Francis
Journal of the American statistical association, 1983Taylor & Francis
We construct a prediction rule on the basis of some data, and then wish to estimate the error
rate of this rule in classifying future observations. Cross-validation provides a nearly
unbiased estimate, using only the original data. Cross-validation turns out to be related
closely to the bootstrap estimate of the error rate. This article has two purposes: to
understand better the theoretical basis of the prediction problem, and to investigate some
related estimators, which seem to offer considerably improved estimation in small samples.
Abstract
We construct a prediction rule on the basis of some data, and then wish to estimate the error rate of this rule in classifying future observations. Cross-validation provides a nearly unbiased estimate, using only the original data. Cross-validation turns out to be related closely to the bootstrap estimate of the error rate. This article has two purposes: to understand better the theoretical basis of the prediction problem, and to investigate some related estimators, which seem to offer considerably improved estimation in small samples.
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