  Model interpretation is one of the key aspects of the model evaluation
process. The explanation of the relationship between model variables and
outputs is relatively easy for statistical models, such as linear regressions,
thanks to the availability of model parameters and their statistical
significance. For "black box" models, such as random forest, this information
is hidden inside the model structure. This work presents an approach for
computing feature contributions for random forest classification models. It
allows for the determination of the influence of each variable on the model
prediction for an individual instance. By analysing feature contributions for a
training dataset, the most significant variables can be determined and their
typical contribution towards predictions made for individual classes, i.e.,
class-specific feature contribution "patterns", are discovered. These patterns
represent a standard behaviour of the model and allow for an additional
assessment of the model reliability for a new data. Interpretation of feature
contributions for two UCI benchmark datasets shows the potential of the
proposed methodology. The robustness of results is demonstrated through an
extensive analysis of feature contributions calculated for a large number of
generated random forest models.
