Data-mined models often achieve good predictive power, but sometimes at the cost of interpretability. We investigate here if selecting features to increase a model's construct validity and interpretability also can improve the model's ability to predict the desired constructs. We do this by taking existing models and reducing the feature set to…

This dissertation reports the results of three studies and a pilot study. The first study was a Monte Carlo validation study that examined the accuracy of a new visual inspection method, the semi-interquartile range method. Results of the study indicated that this method had lower levels of power than a previously validated method, the…