Method notes

Four recurring research reflexes

Theory becomes useful when it changes what you check.

Compact notes connected to working case studies. Each one states the object, the practical consequence and the checks required before trusting a result.

01

Credit risk modelling

Validation before optimisation

A score is useful only inside a declared evaluation protocol. The case study separates the training population, validation split, class balance and threshold decision before comparing models.

Before trusting the result

  • 01Split before preprocessing
  • 02Report class prevalence
  • 03Calibrate the operating threshold
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02

Customer segmentation

Representation shapes clustering

K-Means is a compact objective, but scaling and feature geometry determine what a centroid means. Cluster stability and business interpretability matter more than a decorative two-dimensional projection.

Before trusting the result

  • 01Scale the feature space
  • 02Compare seeds and K values
  • 03Name clusters after inspection
Open case study

03

Financial time series

Model conditional risk

Price levels may be close to unpredictable while volatility remains persistent. GARCH models conditional variance and makes the risk object explicit instead of claiming directional foresight.

Before trusting the result

  • 01Work on returns
  • 02Inspect persistence
  • 03Test heavy-tailed innovations
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04

Monte Carlo quantiles

Spend simulation where it matters

Importance sampling changes the proposal distribution to visit rare but consequential regions more often, then reweights observations to preserve the target expectation.

Before trusting the result

  • 01Cover the target support
  • 02Inspect weight dispersion
  • 03Measure variance reduction
Open case study