Python pandas: Keep selected column as DataFrame instead of Series

As @Jeff mentions there are a few ways to do this, but I recommend using loc/iloc to be more explicit (and raise errors early if you're trying something ambiguous):

In [10]: df = pd.DataFrame([[1, 2], [3, 4]], columns=['A', 'B'])

In [11]: df
Out[11]:
   A  B
0  1  2
1  3  4

In [12]: df[['A']]

In [13]: df[[0]]

In [14]: df.loc[:, ['A']]

In [15]: df.iloc[:, [0]]

Out[12-15]:  # they all return the same thing:
   A
0  1
1  3

The latter two choices remove ambiguity in the case of integer column names (precisely why loc/iloc were created). For example:

In [16]: df = pd.DataFrame([[1, 2], [3, 4]], columns=['A', 0])

In [17]: df
Out[17]:
   A  0
0  1  2
1  3  4

In [18]: df[[0]]  # ambiguous
Out[18]:
   A
0  1
1  3

As Andy Hayden recommends, utilizing .iloc/.loc to index out (single-columned) dataframe is the way to go; another point to note is how to express the index positions. Use a listed Index labels/positions whilst specifying the argument values to index out as Dataframe; failure to do so will return a 'pandas.core.series.Series'

Input:

    A_1 = train_data.loc[:,'Fraudster']
    print('A_1 is of type', type(A_1))
    A_2 = train_data.loc[:, ['Fraudster']]
    print('A_2 is of type', type(A_2))
    A_3 = train_data.iloc[:,12]
    print('A_3 is of type', type(A_3))
    A_4 = train_data.iloc[:,[12]]
    print('A_4 is of type', type(A_4))

Output:

    A_1 is of type <class 'pandas.core.series.Series'>
    A_2 is of type <class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
    A_3 is of type <class 'pandas.core.series.Series'>
    A_4 is of type <class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>