Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105779
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) On how data are partitioned in model development and evaluation: Confronting the elephant in the room to enhance model generalization
Author Maier, H.R.; Zheng, F.; Gupta, H.; Chen, J.; Mai, J.; Savic, D.; Loritz, R.; Wu, W.; Guo, D.; Bennett, A.; Jakeman, A.; Razavi, S.; Zhao, J.
Source Titel Environmental Modelling & Software
Year 2023
Department CHS
Volume 167
Page From art. 105779
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Keywords Model development; Model evaluation; Data partitioning; Data splitting; Calibration; Validation; Uncertainty; Earth systems
Abstract Models play a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of Earth's physical nature and environmental systems, aiding in their efficient planning and management. The accuracy and reliability of these models heavily rely on data, which are generally partitioned into subsets for model development and evaluation. Surprisingly, how this partitioning is done is often not justified, even though it determines what model we end up with, how we assess its performance and what decisions we make based on the resulting model outputs. In this study, we shed light on the paramount importance of meticulously considering data partitioning in the model development and evaluation process, and its significant impact on model generalization. We identify flaws in existing data-splitting approaches and propose a forward-looking strategy to effectively confront the “elephant in the room”, leading to improved model generalization capabilities.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=27509
Maier, H.R., Zheng, F., Gupta, H., Chen, J., Mai, J., Savic, D., Loritz, R., Wu, W., Guo, D., Bennett, A., Jakeman, A., Razavi, S., Zhao, J. (2023):
On how data are partitioned in model development and evaluation: Confronting the elephant in the room to enhance model generalization
Environ. Modell. Softw. 167 , art. 105779 10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105779