Text Classification Techniques: A Literature Review
Authors: Thangaraj M. , Sivakami M 
Published: June 2018

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyze various text classification techniques employed in practice, their strengths and weaknesses, to provide an improved awareness regarding various knowledge extraction possibilities in the field of data mining.

Background: Artificial Intelligence is reshaping text classification techniques to better acquire knowledge. However, in spite of the growth and spread of AI in all fields of research, its role with respect to text mining is not well understood yet.

Methodology: For this study, various articles written between 2010 and 2017 on “text classification techniques in AI”, selected from leading journals of computer science, were analyzed. Each article was completely read. The research problems related to text classification techniques in the field of AI were identified and techniques were grouped according to the algorithms involved. These algorithms were divided based on the learning procedure used. Finally, the findings were plotted as a tree structure for visualizing the relationship between learning procedures and algorithms.

Contribution: This paper identifies the strengths, limitations, and current research trends in text classification in an advanced field like AI. This knowledge is crucial for data scientists. They could utilize the findings of this study to devise customized data models. It also helps the industry to understand the operational efficiency of text mining techniques. It further contributes to reducing the cost of the projects and supports effective decision making.

Findings: It has been found more important to study and understand the nature of data before proceeding into mining. The automation of text classification process is required, with the increasing amount of data and need for accuracy. Another interesting research opportunity lies in building intricate text data models with deep learning systems. It has the ability to execute complex Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks with semantic requirements.

Recommendations for Practitioners: Frame analysis, deception detection, narrative science where data expresses a story, healthcare applications to diagnose illnesses and conversation analysis are some of the recommendations suggested for practitioners.

Recommendation for Researchers: Developing simpler algorithms in terms of coding and implementation, better approaches for knowledge distillation, multilingual text refining, domain knowledge integration, subjectivity detection, and contrastive viewpoint summarization are some of the areas that could be explored by researchers.

Impact on Society: Text classification forms the base of data analytics and acts as the engine behind knowledge discovery. It supports state-of-the-art decision making, for example, predicting an event before it actually occurs, classifying a transaction as ‘Fraudulent’ etc. The results of this study could be used for developing applications dedicated to assisting decision making processes. These informed decisions will help to optimize resources and maximize benefits to the mankind.

Future Research: In the future, better methods for parameter optimization will be identified by selecting better parameters that reflects effective knowledge discovery. The role of streaming data processing is still rarely explored when it comes to text classification.