Hierarchical
Clustering Schemes (HCS) are usually portrayed as a vertical stack, with each
row representing a level of the HCS. The scheme is read top down, with the unclustered
(“splitter”) level on the top, and the final single-cluster (“lumper”) level at
the bottom of the scheme. Single points are denoted by a “.”, and clustered
points are represented by XXX joining
them. Since each level is a single row, this representation emphasizes that the
levels of the clustering form a simple ordering. It is sometimes referred to as
a “line-printer” plot.
An
HCS can also be represented as a horizontal dendogram, read from left (splitter) to right (lumper) but where the value
of the dis/similarity measure (and not simply the level) at which points or
clusters are merged is represented by the length of the branches. This representation
thus encodes the quantitative information in the levels of the clustering, and
not simply the order of them.
When
the results of a HICLUS cluster analysis are
displayed in the editor window, clicking on the Graphics button will
show the cluster diagram (if any) following the current cursor position,
as a graphic dendrogram. Alternatively, place the cursor within the
boundaries of a selected line-printer plot and click on the Graphics
button for this function.
Click
on Save to save the current display in a file. Alternatively, you may
use ALT+PrtScr to save the current display to the Clipboard for
inclusion in other documents.
Click
on Close to close the display and return to the main NewMDSX
window.