对比传统与生成模型在教育数据合成中的表现,发现各有优劣。
Synthetic Data in Education: Empirical Insights from Traditional Resampling and Deep Generative Models

- 用三种重采样和三种生成模型系统比较合成数据效果。
- 重采样实用性强(TSTR 0.997),但隐私保护差;生成模型保隐私(DCR≈1.00),但性能损失大。
- 变分自编码器在隐私与性能间平衡最佳,适合外部共享数据。
合成数据生成为解决教育技术中的数据稀缺和隐私问题提供了可能,但实践者缺乏在传统重采样与现代深度学习方法间选择的实证指导。本研究首次基于包含10,000条记录的学生表现数据集,系统性地比较了三类重采样方法(SMOTE、Bootstrap、Random Oversampling)与三类深度学习模型(Autoencoder、Variational Autoencoder、Copula-GAN)的表现。评估维度包括分布保真度(Kolmogorov-Smirnov距离、Jensen-Shannon散度)、机器学习实用性(Train-on-Synthetic-Test-on-Real分数,TSTR)及隐私保护能力(最近邻距离,DCR)。结果揭示根本权衡:重采样方法实现近乎完美的实用性(TSTR: 0.997),但隐私保护几乎为零(DCR ~ 0.00);深度学习模型提供强隐私保障(DCR ~ 1.00),但实用性显著下降。变分自编码器表现最优,在保持83.3%预测性能的同时实现完全隐私保护。研究还提出具体建议:内部开发用传统重采样,外部共享用VAE。本工作建立了学习分析中合成数据生成的基础基准与实用决策框架。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Synthetic data generation offers promise for addressing data scarcity and privacy concerns in educational technology, yet practitioners lack empirical guidance for selecting between traditional resampling techniques and modern deep learning approaches. This study presents the first systematic benchmark comparing these paradigms using a 10,000-record student performance dataset. We evaluate three resampling methods (SMOTE, Bootstrap, Random Oversampling) against three deep learning models (Autoencoder, Variational Autoencoder, Copula-GAN) across multiple dimensions: distributional fidelity (Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance, Jensen-Shannon divergence), machine learning utility such as Train-on-Synthetic-Test-on-Real scores (TSTR), and privacy preservation (Distance to Closest Record). Our findings reveal a fundamental trade-off: resampling methods achieve near-perfect utility (TSTR: 0.997) but completely fail privacy protection (DCR ~ 0.00), while deep learning models provide strong privacy guarantees (DCR ~ 1.00) at significant utility cost. Variational Autoencoders emerge as the optimal compromise, maintaining 83.3% predictive performance while ensuring complete privacy protection. We also provide actionable recommendations: use traditional resampling for internal development where privacy is controlled, and VAEs for external data sharing where privacy is paramount. This work establishes a foundational benchmark and practical decision framework for synthetic data generation in learning analytics.
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