Exam 20: Cluster Analysis

The ________ method is based on the maximum distance or the furthest neighbor approach.

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of nonhierarchical clustering procedures?

________ is a class of techniques used to classify objects or cases into relatively homogeneous groups.

What suggested guidelines researchers can use when deciding on the number of clusters?

In non-hierarchical clustering,the F test is only descriptive.Because the cases or objects are systematically assigned to clusters to maximize differences on the clustering variables,the resulting probabilities should not be interpreted as testing the null hypothesis of no differences among clusters.

Cluster analysis is the obverse of factor analysis in that it reduces the number of objects,not the number of variables,by grouping them into a much smaller number of clusters.

Measuring similarity in terms of distance between pairs of objects is the most common approach used in cluster analysis for grouping similar objects together.

The ________ method uses information on all pairs of distances,not merely the minimum or maximum distances.

Which statement is not true concerning the clustering solution if the variables are measured in vastly different units?

A(n)________ or tree graph is a graphical device for displaying clustering results.Vertical lines represent clusters that are joined together.The position of the line on the scale indicates the distances at which clusters were joined.

The ________ method is based on minimum distance or the nearest neighbor rule.

Cluster analysis does not classify variables as dependent or independent.

The centroids represent the mean values of the objects contained in the cluster on each of the variables.

________ is a variance method in which the squared euclidean distance to the cluster means is minimized.

________ is a clustering procedure where each object starts out in a separate cluster.

If you are performing cluster analysis on the same data using different distance measures and then comparing the results across measures to determine stability of the solutions,you are at which stage of the cluster analysis process?

The TwoStep cluster analysis procedure can automatically determine the optimal number of clusters by comparing the values of a model-choice criteria across different clustering solutions.

The ________ is a nonhierarchical method that allows for later reassignment of objects to clusters to optimize an overall criterion.

Which cluster analysis procedure can automatically determine the optimal number of clusters by comparing the values of a model-choice across different clustering solutions?

________ is a procedure that first assigns or determines a cluster center and then groups all objects within a pre-specified threshold value from the center.