yogsoth-ai Strategy: Ablation Design
Question: What does each component contribute?
Methodology
- Systematic Ablation (Newell 1974): Remove one component at a time, measure degradation.
- Replacement Ablation: Replace component with simpler alternative to isolate contribution.
- Combinatorial Ablation (ABLATOR): Test component subsets to detect interaction effects.
- Conditional Ablation: Ablate components under specific data conditions to find context-dependent contributions.
Execution Flow
- ablation-component-mapping → Map system architecture to ablatable units
- baseline-selection → Select full-system and minimal-system anchors
- metric-specification → Define metrics that capture component contribution
- sample-size-estimation → Determine runs needed for reliable delta estimation
- statistical-method-selection (tactic) → Choose appropriate significance tests for deltas
Budget Gate
| Ablation Type | Components (N) | Min Runs | When to Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Systematic (leave-one-out) | 3-8 | N + 2 | Standard component analysis |
| Replacement | 3-8 | 2N + 2 | Need to distinguish "removal" vs "simplification" |
| Combinatorial (selected) | 4-6 | ~2N | Suspected interactions between components |
| Combinatorial (full) | 3-4 | 2^N | Small systems, need complete picture |
| Conditional | 3-6 | N * conditions | Context-dependent contributions |
Available Tactics
Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.
| Tactic | When to use |
|---|---|
| statistical-method-selection | Select appropriate statistical methods for experiment analysis |
Available SOPs
Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.
| SOP | When to use |
|---|---|
| ablation-component-mapping | Map system architecture to ablatable units for ablation studies |
| baseline-selection | Select appropriate baselines for experimental comparison |
| metric-specification | Define experiment metrics and significance standards |
| sample-size-estimation | SOP: power analysis and required experiment count estimation |