[R] cluster analysis in R

KitKat katherinewright at trentu.ca
Thu Nov 15 19:14:46 CET 2012


I have two issues. 

1-I am trying to use morphology to identify gender. I have 9 variables, both
continuous and categorical. I was using two-step cluster analysis in SPSS
because two-step could deal with different types of variables. But the
output tells me that an animal is in cluster 1 or 2, it does not give me a
probability (ex. 0.70 cluster 2).  I also did not want to specify that I
want two clusters, I wanted to see if analysis would naturally give me two
clusters. These were all advantages to using SPSS but now I'm having
trouble.

Does cluster analysis in R give probabilities?
Which type of cluster analysis in R is best to use? I did not think
hierarchical analysis was a great choice, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't want
to create the average variable, I want the analysis to do it on its own. 
I'm also new to R so would have to figure out the right codes to enter, etc.

2-I was also told to analyze each variable on its own before including it in
cluster analysis. I had first included them all then teased out which ones
were not important, but now have been asked to do the reverse. I cannot do
cluster analysis on one variable -for example, one variable is either
present or absent on an individual so of course cluster analysis gives me
two clusters, one representing present and one representing absent. I was
told to use regression, but how can regression also not give the same
result? I feel like it would give me a line connecting a bunch of 0s to 1s.
I don't know what to use, or if I can analyze each variable like this before
putting them into cluster analysis. I ultimately want to only use the
smallest number of variables necessary to identify gender. 

I have tried reading manuals etc and talking to people at my school, but
nothing has helped. If anyone has any insight, that would be much
appreciated
Thank you!



--
View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/cluster-analysis-in-R-tp4649635.html
Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.



More information about the R-help mailing list