Generalizing clustering inferences with ml augmentation of ordinal survey data

Abstract

In this paper, we attempt to generalize the ability to achieve quality inferences of survey data for a larger population through data augmentation and unification. Data augmentation techniques have proven effective in enhancing models’ performance by expanding the dataset’s size. We employ ML data augmentation, unification, and clustering techniques. First, we augment the limited survey data size using data augmentation technique(s). Second, we carry out data unification, followed by clustering for inferencing. We took two benchmark survey datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of augmentation and unification. The first dataset contains information on aspiring student entrepreneurs’ characteristics, while the second dataset comprises survey data related to breast cancer. We compare the inferences drawn from the original survey data with those derived from the transformed data using the proposed scheme. The results of this study indicate that the machine learning approach, data augmentation with the unification of data followed by clustering, can be beneficial for generalizing the inferences drawn from the survey data.