Statistics Spotlight: Prediction or Understanding?
Statistics Spotlight: Prediction or Understanding?
Know your study’s priorities before selecting the best statistical model
- Publication:
- Quality Progress
- Date:
- April 2026
- Issue:
- Volume 59 Issue 4
- Pages:
- pp. 45-46
- Author(s):
- Anderson-Cook, Christine M.
- Organization(s):
- Los Alamos, NM
Abstract
As AI continues to be used in more aspects of our daily lives and work, it is beneficial to understand the fundamental choice between a complex model designed to squeeze out maximum performance on prediction at the potential cost of lack of interpretability or overfitting versus a simpler, more understandable model. Know the priorities of the study and choose wisely based on how the results of the model will be used.
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