Cluster analysis Survey and evaluation of techniques
During the last years the number of applications of cluster analysis in the social sciences has increased very rapidly. One of the reasons for this is the growing awareness that the assumption of homogeneity implicit in the application of such techniques
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Tilburg Studies on Sociology 1 Edited by the
Institute for Labour Studies of the Tilburg School of Economics, Social Sciences and Law
Members of the Board R. de Moor, Chairman F. van Dooren J. Godefroy F. Grunfeld H. Loevendie J. Stalpers Ph. C. Stouthard
Director of Research A. Vermeulen
A study on Research Methods
Cluster analysis Survey and evaluation of techniques
E.J. Bijnen Lecturer in Statistics at the Social Faculty of the Tilburg School of Economics, Social Sciences and Law
Foreword by
Ph. C. Stouthard Professor of Statistics and Research Methods, Tilburg School of Economics, Social Sciences and Law, Department of Psychology
1973 Tilburg University Press The Netherlands
Translated by C.E. Brand-Maher
Copyright © 1973 by Nijgh-Wolters-Noordhoff Universitaire Uitgevers B. V. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1973 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means without written permission from the publisher. Distributors: Academic Book Services Holland, P.O. Box 66, Groningen, the Netherlands ISBN-13: 978-94-011-6784-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-011-6782-6 001: 10.1007/978-94-011-6782-6
Foreword
During the last years the number of applications of cluster analysis in the social sciences has increased very rapidly. One of the reasons for this is the growing awareness that the assumption of homogeneity implicit in the application of such techniques as factor analysis and scaling is often violated by social science data; another is the increased interest in typologies and the construction of types. Dr. Bijnen has done an extremely useful job by putting together and evaluating attempts to arrive at better and more elegant techniques of cluster analysis from such diverse fields as the social sciences, biology and medicine. His presentation is very clear and concise, reflecting his intention not to write a 'cookery-book' but a text for scholars who need a reliable guide to pilot them through an extensive and widely scattered literature.
Ph. C. Stouthard
v
Preface
This book contains a survey of a number of techniques of clustering analysis. The merits and demerits of the procedures described are also discussed so that the research worker can make an informed choice between them. These techniques have been published in a very great number of journals which are not all easily accessible to the sociologist. This difficulty is compounded because developments in the different disciplines have occurred almost entirely independently from each other; reference is made only sporadically in a piece of literature to the literature of other disciplines. This is one of the reasons why the survey contained in this book cannot be complete. In addition to this the techniques described have been selected according to their relevance to sociological (and psychological) research. As far as classification of the techniques is concerned, a classification following the field of application of the methods has been opted for (for other classification crite
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