Robust Variable Selection in Classification Tree

In this study we focus on variable selection in decision tree growing structure. Some of the splitting rules and variable selection algorithms are discussed. We propose a competitive variable selection method based on Kruskal-Wallis test, which is a nonparametric version of ANOVA F-test. Through a Monte Carlo study we note that CART has serious bias in variable selection towards categorical variables having many values, and also QUEST using F-test is not so powerful to select informative variables under heavy tailed distributions.