Feature Misspecification in Sequential Learning Problems

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ahn, Dohyun; Shin, Dongwook; Zeevi, Assaf
• 署名单位: Chinese University of Hong Kong; Columbia University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.00328
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: sequential learning; ordinal optimization; Model Misspecification; Maximum likelihood estimation

摘要

We consider a class of sequential learning problems where a decision maker must learn the unknown statistical characteristics of a finite set of alternatives (or systems) using sequential sampling to ultimately select a subset of good alternatives. A salient feature of our problem is that system performance is governed by a set of features. The decision maker postulates the dependence on these features to be linear, but this model may not precisely represent the true underlying system structure. We show that this misspecification, if not managed properly, can lead to suboptimal performance because of a phenomenon identified as sample-selection endogeneity. We propose a prospective sampling principle-a new approach that eliminates the adverse effects of misspecification as the number of samples grows large. The proposed principle applies across a very general class of widely used sampling policies, enjoys strong asymptotic performance guarantees, and exhibits effective finite-sample performance in numerical experiments.