Differential Subgroup Discovery: Characterizing Where Two Populations Differ, and Why
We study the problem of understanding where two populations differ within a feature space, which we formalize in the concept of a differential subgroup: a subset of individuals from both populations who, despite sharing similar characteristics, exhibit exceptional differences in a target outcome. Differential subgroups reveal the regions of the feature space where population-level gaps are most pronounced and can help practitioners identify the covariate combinations that are structurally responsible for these differences, e.g.~in clinical analysis, model diagnostics, or treatment-effect studies. We introduce a general optimization objective for discovering differential subgroups and esta...
| Authors | Sascha Xu, Jilles Vreeken |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 30 April 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 30 April 2026 |
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