R code for sharing my solution to Kaggle's Titanic knowledge contest in the context of some collaborative learning on /r/machinelearning.
VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS:
survival Survival
(0 = No; 1 = Yes)
pclass Passenger Class
(1 = 1st; 2 = 2nd; 3 = 3rd)
name Name
sex Sex
age Age
sibsp Number of Siblings/Spouses Aboard
parch Number of Parents/Children Aboard
ticket Ticket Number
fare Passenger Fare
cabin Cabin
embarked Port of Embarkation
(C = Cherbourg; Q = Queenstown; S = Southampton)
SPECIAL NOTES:
Pclass is a proxy for socio-economic status (SES) 1st ~ Upper; 2nd ~ Middle; 3rd ~ Lower
Age is in Years; Fractional if Age less than One (1) If the Age is Estimated, it is in the form xx.5
With respect to the family relation variables (i.e. sibsp and parch) some relations were ignored. The following are the definitions used for sibsp and parch.
Sibling: Brother, Sister, Stepbrother, or Stepsister of Passenger Aboard Titanic
Spouse: Husband or Wife of Passenger Aboard Titanic (Mistresses and Fiances Ignored)
Parent: Mother or Father of Passenger Aboard Titanic
Child: Son, Daughter, Stepson, or Stepdaughter of Passenger Aboard Titanic
Other family relatives excluded from this study include cousins, nephews/nieces, aunts/uncles, and in-laws. Some children travelled only with a nanny, therefore parch=0 for them. As well, some travelled with very close friends or neighbors in a village, however, the definitions do not support such relations.