What is the difference between model validation and evaluation? (2024)

Key takeaways from this article

• Split the data:

  To differentiate model validation from evaluation, partition your data into three sets: training, validation, and test. Use training to build your model, validation to fine-tune it, and the test set to gauge its real-world performance.

• Practice versus performance:

  Think of model validation as rehearsal where you refine your approach based on feedback from a subset of data. Model evaluation is the live show—testing your model on completely new data to see how well it predicts and performs under pressure.

This summary is powered by AI and these experts

• Yashwant K Gen AI | RPA | Master's in Data Science

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  In the realm of model mastery, validation is the insightful maestro tuning the instrument of accuracy. It's not just a ritual; it's a dance with the data, a meticulous choreography that ensures the model sings in harmony. Validation is the unsung hero, spotlighting potential biases and fine-tuning parameters. Think of it as the wise mentor guiding the model through the labyrinth of real-world unpredictabilities. It's the discerning eye ensuring the model doesn't just memorize but comprehends. In this intricate ballet, validation transforms a mere prediction engine into a reliable oracle, resonating with the nuances of diverse datasets.

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• Vineeth Reddy GUDA Product Manager | Partnering with SaaS Startups to Turn Concepts into Market-Leading Products | Founder @Analyco

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  Model validation is crucial for ensuring the effectiveness of your model. It checks if the model aligns with algorithm assumptions and fits the data well. It's key to avoid overfitting (too complex, capturing noise, not generalizing well) and underfitting (too simple, missing patterns). Use techniques like cross-validation, bootstrapping, or regularization to test on different data subsets and adjust model parameters or complexity for optimal performance.

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  Model evaluation is a comprehensive process that involves assessing how well a machine learning model performs on a given dataset. It aims to measure the model's overall effectiveness in making predictions using various metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and area under the ROC curve (AUC-ROC) etc. It typically occurs after the model has been trained and is ready for deployment.On the other hand, model validation is a specific step within the broader model evaluation process. It focuses on assessing how well the model generalizes to new, unseen data. The primary goal is to ensure that the model avoids overfitting. It is typically conducted during the model development phase to refine parameters and enhance generalization.

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• Mahdi Sheikhi Cloud Engineer | 23x Microsoft Certified Professional | Azure | Power Platform | Data | AI | Developer | MCT | Developer | Software Engineer

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  Model validation is like double-checking that your solution (the model) is right for the problem and ensuring that the model isn't too fancy or too basic for what you need it to do, this helps make sure it works well not just for the examples it's seen but also for new, unseen situations. Think of it as a fitting room where you're trying on clothes (models) to find the perfect fit for your body (data) without being too tight (overfitting) or too loose (underfitting).

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• Ira Watt Alteryx ACE | People Insights at Fidelity International | Alteryx, DataRobot, Power BI and Snowflake Specialist

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  An important additional point is that when comparing multiple models performance it is the model validation score which is used.

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  Para comprenderlo rapido. La evaluación del modelo se enfoca en el rendimiento del mismoen términos de su capacidad para predecir nuevos datos.

  Translated

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• Tanaya Vivek M. Data Engineer | Ex-Mu Sigma | Ex-Cognizant | Python | SQL | PySpark | Hadoop | Databricks | AWS | Azure | Seeking Full-Time Opportunities

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  Model validation is the evaluation of a model's generalization to new data using a different test or holdout dataset. The procedure entails assessing the model's performance outside the data on which it was trained, providing insights into its predictive power. Model evaluation, on the other hand, refers to the broader process of assessing a model's overall performance through the use of specified metrics and criteria. It necessitates the selection of relevant metrics, such as accuracy, precision, recall, mean squared error, or R-squared, based on the project's aims and the nature of the data. The ultimate goal of model evaluation is to assess how well the model achieves its intended goals and fits the project's needs.

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• Ira Watt Alteryx ACE | People Insights at Fidelity International | Alteryx, DataRobot, Power BI and Snowflake Specialist

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  When a model is in production, it is crucial to incorporate model evaluation into the process of monitoring its performance on a regular cadence.

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• Vineeth Reddy GUDA Product Manager | Partnering with SaaS Startups to Turn Concepts into Market-Leading Products | Founder @Analyco

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  Model evaluation focuses on performance measurement:Performance on New Data: It assesses how well the model works with unseen data (test or holdout set).Predictive Power and Generalizability: Determines the model's ability to accurately predict and its applicability to various scenarios.Use of Metrics: Select metrics relevant to your model type and goals. For classification models, consider accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score. For regression models, look at mean squared error, root mean squared error, or R-squared.Comparison with Benchmarks: Compare your model's performance against other models or standards.

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• Vignesh Suresh Certified Tableau Desktop Specialist | Alteryx Certified | SQL, Power BI, Tableau, Prep, Machine Learning, Excel

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  Model evaluation is the process of measuring how well your model performs on new and unseen data, usually called the test or holdout set. Model evaluation helps you to estimate the predictive power and generalizability of your model, and compare it with other models or benchmarks. To evaluate your model, you need to choose appropriate metrics and criteria that reflect the goals and objectives of your project, and the characteristics of your data.

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• Yashwant K Gen AI | RPA | Master's in Data Science

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  Model validation is like practicing a dance routine in front of a mirror before hitting the stage, where you adjust your moves for better performance. Similarly, in machine learning, this stage fine-tunes the model's parameters on a subset of data. Now, model evaluation is the grand performance. It's comparable to the dance recital in front of a live audience. Here, the model faces a new dataset, unseen during practice, to showcase its real-world capabilities. Just as a dancer aims to impress the audience, the model aims to demonstrate its accuracy and reliability in a practical, everyday scenario, ensuring it truly delivers on expectations.

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• Divyanshu Gangwar Data Scientist @AXAXL | Document Intelligence | GenAI | NLP | Computer Vision

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  The 2 mechanisms are similar in way that both methods are used to test the performance of the model on a hold out data set using various accuracy metrics. The main difference is that validation is used to evaluate model performance at various epochs and is mainly used as a marker to decide if the model needs to be finetuned further or training needs to be stopped. On the other hand, once the final model is ready and training performance is deemed satisfactory, it needs to be tested on real world data which it will see in production and check if issues like out of distribution error or data drift are seen. This is called model evaluation

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• Ira Watt Alteryx ACE | People Insights at Fidelity International | Alteryx, DataRobot, Power BI and Snowflake Specialist

  (edited)

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  Validation serves to create a strong and reliable model using the training data, while evaluation ensures that the model's performance is monitored once it is deployed.Both give the model data however validation involves training the model, evaluation does not. The key distinction lies in the ability to compare and refine models using a validation score. After selecting a model, one can proceed with the evaluation process. Evaluation becomes a regular task once the model is deployed for monitoring purposes.

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  model validation and evaluation are like twin checkpoints in ensuring a reliable model. Validation is akin to testing recipes during cooking, done while building to pick the best approach. On the other hand, evaluation is the taste test after the dish is finalized, gauging how well it will perform in the real world. Validation uses training data, like practicing with ingredients, to choose the best model. Evaluation, using a separate test set, is like presenting the dish to critics – it estimates how well the selected model will fare in the future. Both are crucial steps in ensuring the model's quality and readiness for practical use.

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• Evangelos Giakoumakis Lead Data Scientist at Dell Technologies

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  Here are a few similarities between model validation and evaluation:1. Validation Data: Both validation and evaluation processes utilize unseen datasets from the training phase. This helps in gauging how well the model performs and generalizes to unseen data.2. Metric Selection: In both cases, you choose evaluation metrics to quantify the model's performance.3. Performance Improvement: Both processes aim to identify areas for model improvement. Insights gained from validation and evaluation guide the iterative refinement of the model.4. Refrain from Overfitting: Both methods contribute to preventing overfitting. They help ensure that the model generalizes well to new, unseen instances.

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• Reyhane Shayeste Data Analyst || SQL|| Power BI || EXCEL|| PYTHON

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  Model validation can truly make or break a data analytics project. Splitting the data into training, validation, and test sets is like having a roadmap for success. Ensuring the test set represents the real world is key – after all, we want our models to tackle the challenges they'll face out there. And selecting the right validation techniques is like picking the perfect tools for a job. The comparison with other models is the cherry on top, offering a clear view of our model's strengths and areas to refine.

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• Ira Watt Alteryx ACE | People Insights at Fidelity International | Alteryx, DataRobot, Power BI and Snowflake Specialist

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  Frequent application of both validation and model evaluation is crucial. During model development, validation should be applied consistently to ensure a strong and accurate model is created using the training data. This involves an iterative process of making changes to the model and then validating its performance.Once a model is selected, regular model evaluation should be conducted to identify any inaccuracies in the model assumptions or potential data drift, which may lead to a decline in model performance. It is important to establish an appropriate cadence for model evaluation to effectively monitor and address any issues.

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• Mahdi Sheikhi Cloud Engineer | 23x Microsoft Certified Professional | Azure | Power Platform | Data | AI | Developer | MCT | Developer | Software Engineer

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  I think it's better to use model validation and evaluation with start by dividing your data into three parts: training, validation, and testing. Use the training set to build your model, the validation set to fine-tune it, and the test set to assess its performance. Ensure that your test set closely represents the situation you want to model. Choose appropriate techniques and metrics that suit your data's nature and your model's purpose; for small or unique datasets, consider specialized methods like cross-validation, the aim is to craft a model that is both accurate and reliable.

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• Gerald Tesha Data Officer @ HETA | Data Visualization | Monitoring and Evaluation

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  Validation is your compass for real-world scenarios. Split data into training and validation sets, ensuring the model can handle new inputs. Evaluation involves testing the model on a distinct dataset to measure its accuracy and efficacy.

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• Nitesh Sah Management Consultant | Teacher

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  Model validation is essentially assessing the performance of the model while developing or training it, often using the expertise and validation techniques or relevant data to tune the parameters and prevent over or underfitting. Model evaluation, on the other hand, is to assess the model's performance on an independent dataset to measure its generalization and utilization ability. Validation is fine-tuning, while evaluation is testing the acceptance and capability both of which are extremely essential in creating a reliable model.

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• Ira Watt Alteryx ACE | People Insights at Fidelity International | Alteryx, DataRobot, Power BI and Snowflake Specialist

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  Without validation you would have no confidence the model generated from the training data was robust or accurate. Without constant evaluation after deployment you would not be able to identify the cause of decreased performance be that due to assumptions in the models no longer holding or the data has drifted to far from the training set.

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• Mithila Harish, PMP® Data Scientist | Living and Learning with AI

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  Ultimately, unless the focus is on pure research, models exist to serve a specific business need. It could be, for instance, for automated defect inspection in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, or for autonomous driving for self-driving cars. The hype cycle around new technology, by itself, cannot sustain careers. Models need to create value - be it in terms of productivity improvement, profits, or the like. In order to successfully do so, there needs to be rigorous testing of the models- both for accuracy and accountability.

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• Gerald Tesha Data Officer @ HETA | Data Visualization | Monitoring and Evaluation

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  Trust the process! Model validation and evaluation instill confidence. Validation ensures your model is ready for the wild, while evaluation quantifies its performance. Together, they form the quality assurance duo for robust machine learning models.

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• Shivshankar Mulage Data Analyst @TransUnion CIBIL | EX-TCS

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  ▪️Model Validation: It ensures that the model is learning from the training data effectively and avoids overfitting, leading to a more robust and generalizable model.▪️Model Evaluation: It provides insights into the model's actual performance in real-world scenarios, guiding decisions on deployment or further optimization.

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• Latesh Vats Head Business Insights | PMP, Lean Six Sigma | Specialist in Analytics delivery and Data Governance

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  Model Validation : Part of model building process, ensuring model is correct and providing accurate results. The process involves tweaking the model to avoid issues like overfitting and under-fitting. Model Evaluation : this part involves how well model performs in the real world on actual data.On a lighter note , model building can be compared with the process when we prepare the main dish to serve guests, while preparing we are tasting and improving by adding the necessary ingredients to improve the final dish. Basically behind the scene fine tuning.Model evaluation is the final moment of truth, presenting the dish to guests and assessing that how well the dish is received by guests. Evaluation is real world application of the model.

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  Simple, validation is a step taken during the training process to fine-tune and validate a model on different subsets of the training data, while evaluation is the final assessment of the model's performance on completely new, unseen data to estimate its effectiveness in real-world scenarios.

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• Muhammad Hassan Khan Data Analyst | Gen AI | ETL | ML | Python | R | Power BI | Data Engineer | Statistical Analyst | Reporting Automation | SILVER Medallist

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  Model evaluation assesses a trained model's performance on a specific dataset using metrics. Model validation is a broader process, involving assessing a model's generalizability across different datasets or scenarios, often employing techniques like cross-validation.

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  Validation is the process of checking if the model performs well on unseen data during training. It involves using techniques like cross-validation to gauge the model’s ability to generalize. This step helps in tuning model parameters and preventing overfitting.Evaluation, on the other hand, occurs after the model is fully trained. It assesses the model’s final performance using a separate test dataset not seen during training or validation. This step measures the effectiveness of the model in real-world scenarios, using metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score.In summary, validation is about fine-tuning the model during training, while evaluation is about testing its final performance.

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• Shivshankar Mulage Data Analyst @TransUnion CIBIL | EX-TCS

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  ▪️Ensure that the datasets used for validation and evaluation are representative of the real-world scenarios the model will encounter.▪️Model validation may involve adjusting hyperparameters to optimize performance, while model evaluation focuses on the overall effectiveness of the chosen model configuration.

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