An interpretable semi-supervised classifier using rough sets for amended self-labeling

Semi-supervised classifiers combine labeled and unlabeled data during the learning phase in order to increase classifier's generalization capability. However, most successful semi-supervised classifiers involve complex ensemble structures and iterative algorithms which make it difficult to explain the outcome, thus behaving like black boxes. Furthermore, during an iterative self-labeling process, mistakes can be propagated if no amending procedure is used. In this paper, we build upon an interpretable self-labeling grey-box classifier that uses a black box to estimate the missing class labels and a white box to make the final predictions. We propose a Rough Set based approach for amending the self-labeling process. We compare its performance to the vanilla version of our self-labeling grey-box and the use of a confidence-based amending. In addition, we introduce some measures to quantify the interpretability of our model. The experimental results suggest that the proposed amending improves accuracy and interpretability of the self-labeling grey-box, thus leading to superior results when compared to state-of-the-art semi-supervised classifiers.