NONUNIQUENESS AND INVERSIONS IN CLUSTER-ANALYSIS

Care must be exercised when hierarchical methods of cluster analysis a re used. Dendrograms may not be unique, and certain methods are prone to producing inversions. The nature and extent of these features are e xamined through two case-studies, and by applying seven methods to 20 data sets. Insufficient emphasis on the problems of non-uniqueness and of inversion is made in many text-books and also in computer packages and their manuals.