Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Brudvig, Susan
URN	etd-11062007-120418
Title	From Coarse to Fine and Weak to Strong: The Impact of Scale Granularity and Rating Strength on the Ability of K-Means to Recover True Cluster Structure
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Marketing, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Michael J. Brusco Committee Chair Charles F. Hofacker Committee Member J. Dennis Cradit Committee Member James G. Combs Committee Member
Keywords	cluster analysis scaling simulation K-means
Date of Defense	2007-10-19
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract The current research is undertaken to understand the degree to which K-means clustering is resilient to coarse scales and skewed distributions. Two empirical studies are conducted to evaluate how scale granularity and non-normal distributions impact cluster solutions. In both studies, important considerations in the design and testing of clustering methods are addressed. The findings demonstrate that scale granularity influences the quality of a clustering solution, whether quality is measured as cluster recovery or as local optima. However, skewed distributions did not have an impact under the conditions that were tested. Important research directions are explored.
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