Type I error control for tree classification

Cancer Inform. 2014 Nov 16;13(Suppl 7):11-8. doi: 10.4137/CIN.S16342. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Binary tree classification has been useful for classifying the whole population based on the levels of outcome variable that is associated with chosen predictors. Often we start a classification with a large number of candidate predictors, and each predictor takes a number of different cutoff values. Because of these types of multiplicity, binary tree classification method is subject to severe type I error probability. Nonetheless, there have not been many publications to address this issue. In this paper, we propose a binary tree classification method to control the probability to accept a predictor below certain level, say 5%.

Keywords: binary tree; classification; permutation; single-step procedure; step-down procedure; type I error.