Taxonomy for characterizing ensemble methods in classification tasks: A review and annotated bibliography

Ensemble methodology, which builds a classification model by integrating multiple classifiers, can be used for improving prediction performance. Researchers from various disciplines such as statistics, pattern recognition, and machine learning have seriously explored the use of ensemble methodology. This paper presents an updated survey of ensemble methods in classification tasks, while introducing a new taxonomy for characterizing them. The new taxonomy, presented from the algorithm designer's point of view, is based on five dimensions: inducer, combiner, diversity, size, and members' dependency. We also propose several selection criteria, presented from the practitioner's point of view, for choosing the most suitable ensemble method. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.