Optimization Techniques for Unsupervised Complex Table Reasoning via Self-Training Framework

Zhenyu Li

doi:10.1109/TKDE.2024.3439405

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Optimization Techniques for Unsupervised Complex Table Reasoning via Self-Training Framework

2024-12-01

Zhenyu Li

Xiuxing Li

Jianyong Wang *

DOI：10.1109/TKDE.2024.3439405

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Abstract

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Structured tabular data is a fundamental data type in numerous fields, and the capacity to reason over tables is crucial for answering questions and validating hypotheses. However, constructing labeled data for complex reasoning tasks is labor-intensive, and the quantity of annotated data remains insufficient to support the intricate demands of real-world applications. To address the insufficient annotation challenge, we present a self-training framework for unsupervised complex tabular reasoning (UCTR-ST) by generating diverse synthetic data with complex logic. Specifically, UCTR-ST incorporates several essential techniques: we aggregate diverse programs and execute them on tables based on a Program-Management component, and we bridge the gap between programs and text with a powerful Program-Transformation module that generates natural language sentences with complex logic. Furthermore, we optimize the procedure using Table-Text Manipulator to handle joint table-text reasoning scenarios. The entire framework utilizes self-training techniques to leverage the unlabeled training data, which results in significant performance improvements when tested on real-world data. Experimental results demonstrate that UCTR-ST achieves above 90% of the supervised model performance on different tasks and domains, reducing the dependence on manual annotation. Additionally, our approach can serve as a data augmentation technique, significantly boosting the performance of supervised models in low-resourced domains.

Keywords:

Self training

tabular reasoning

unsupervised data generation

Self training

tabular reasoning

unsupervised data generation