home / skills / benchflow-ai / skillsbench / contribution-analysis
/tasks/lake-warming-attribution/environment/skills/contribution-analysis
This skill quantifies each factor's contribution to outcome variance using R² decomposition, enabling clear prioritization of drivers.
npx playbooks add skill benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill contribution-analysisReview the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.
---
name: contribution-analysis
description: Calculate the relative contribution of different factors to a response variable using R² decomposition. Use when you need to quantify how much each factor explains the variance of an outcome.
license: MIT
---
# Contribution Analysis Guide
## Overview
Contribution analysis quantifies how much each factor contributes to explaining the variance of a response variable. This skill focuses on R² decomposition method.
## Complete Workflow
When you have multiple correlated variables that belong to different categories:
```python
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression
from factor_analyzer import FactorAnalyzer
# Step 1: Combine ALL variables into one matrix
pca_vars = ['Var1', 'Var2', 'Var3', 'Var4', 'Var5', 'Var6', 'Var7', 'Var8']
X = df[pca_vars].values
y = df['ResponseVariable'].values
# Step 2: Standardize
scaler = StandardScaler()
X_scaled = scaler.fit_transform(X)
# Step 3: Run ONE global PCA on all variables together
fa = FactorAnalyzer(n_factors=4, rotation='varimax')
fa.fit(X_scaled)
scores = fa.transform(X_scaled)
# Step 4: R² decomposition on factor scores
def calc_r2(X, y):
model = LinearRegression()
model.fit(X, y)
y_pred = model.predict(X)
ss_res = np.sum((y - y_pred) ** 2)
ss_tot = np.sum((y - np.mean(y)) ** 2)
return 1 - (ss_res / ss_tot)
full_r2 = calc_r2(scores, y)
# Step 5: Calculate contribution of each factor
contrib_0 = full_r2 - calc_r2(scores[:, [1, 2, 3]], y)
contrib_1 = full_r2 - calc_r2(scores[:, [0, 2, 3]], y)
contrib_2 = full_r2 - calc_r2(scores[:, [0, 1, 3]], y)
contrib_3 = full_r2 - calc_r2(scores[:, [0, 1, 2]], y)
```
## R² Decomposition Method
The contribution of each factor is calculated by comparing the full model R² with the R² when that factor is removed:
```
Contribution_i = R²_full - R²_without_i
```
## Output Format
```python
contributions = {
'Category1': contrib_0 * 100,
'Category2': contrib_1 * 100,
'Category3': contrib_2 * 100,
'Category4': contrib_3 * 100
}
dominant = max(contributions, key=contributions.get)
dominant_pct = round(contributions[dominant])
with open('output.csv', 'w') as f:
f.write('variable,contribution\n')
f.write(f'{dominant},{dominant_pct}\n')
```
## Common Issues
| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|-------|-------|----------|
| Negative contribution | Suppressor effect | Check for multicollinearity |
| Contributions don't sum to R² | Normal behavior | R² decomposition is approximate |
| Very small contributions | Factor not important | May be negligible driver |
## Best Practices
- Run ONE global PCA on all variables together, not separate PCA per category
- Use factor_analyzer with varimax rotation
- Map factors to category names based on loadings interpretation
- Report contribution as percentage
- Identify the dominant (largest) factor
This skill calculates the relative contribution of different factors to a response variable using R² decomposition on factor scores. It combines all candidate variables into a single factor analysis, then quantifies how much each derived factor explains outcome variance. The result is a percentage contribution per factor and identification of the dominant driver.
All variables are standardized and a single global factor/PCA model is estimated to produce orthogonal factor scores. A linear regression of the outcome on all factor scores produces a full-model R². Each factor's contribution is computed as the drop in R² when that factor's score is omitted (R²_full - R²_without_i). Contributions are reported as percentages and the largest value is flagged as dominant.
What if contributions don't sum to the full R²?
R² decomposition by subtraction is approximate; contributions need not sum exactly to R² due to overlap and model geometry.
Why could a contribution be negative?
Negative values can arise from suppressor effects or multicollinearity; inspect loadings and correlations and consider re-specifying factors.