Validity studies among hierarchical methods of cluster analysis using cophenetic correlation coefficient

Abstract

The literature presents many methods for partitioning of data base, and is difficult choose which is the most suitable, since the various combinations of methods based on different measures of dissimilarity can lead to different patterns of grouping and false interpretations. Nevertheless, little effort has been expended in evaluating these methods empirically using an archaeological data base. In this way, the objective of this work is make a comparative study of the different cluster analysis methods and identify which is the most appropriate. For this, the study was carried out using a data base of the Archaeometric Studies Group from IPEN-CNEN/SP, in which 45 samples of ceramic fragments from three archaeological sites were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) which were determinated the mass fraction of 13 elements (As, Ce, Cr, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Na, Nd, Sc, Sm, Th, U). The methods used for this study were: single linkage, complete linkage, average linkage, centroid and Ward. The validation was done using the cophenetic correlation coefficient and comparing these values the average linkage method obtained better results. A script of the statistical program R with some functions was created to obtain the cophenetic correlation. By means of these values was possible to choose the most appropriate method to be used in the data base.