Software solutions for identifying outliers

• Main Author: Nicolae - Marius Jula
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: "Nicolae Titulescu" University of Bucharest 2015-03-01
• Series: Computational Methods in Social Sciences
• Subjects: outlier; electoral data; electoral outcome.
• Online Access: http://cmss.univnt.ro/wp-content/uploads/vol/split/vol_II_issue_2/CMSS_vol_II_issue_2_art.001.pdf

An outlier is an observation that appears to deviate evidently from other observations in the sample. It is important to identify an outlier because it may suggest erroneous data or, in some cases, outliers may be due to random variation or may indicate something scientifically interesting. However, if the data contains significant outliers, the analyst should consider the use of robust statistical techniques. We demonstrate how to identify outliers in electoral data using informatics methods. An outlier in these datasets may suggest a not necessarily an erroneous data, but an untypical situation – more votes from special lists that the regular registered in that area.