METHOD Subcommand (CLUSTER command)

METHOD specifies one or more clustering methods.

• If the METHOD subcommand is omitted or included without specifications, the method of average linkage between groups is used.
• Only one METHOD subcommand can be used, but more than one method can be specified on it.
• When the number of items is large, CENTROID and MEDIAN require significantly more CPU time than other methods.

BAVERAGE. Average linkage between groups (UPGMA). BAVERAGE is the default and can also be requested with keyword DEFAULT.

WAVERAGE. Average linkage within groups.

SINGLE. Single linkage or nearest neighbor.

COMPLETE. Complete linkage or furthest neighbor.

CENTROID. Centroid clustering (UPGMC). Squared Euclidean distances are commonly used with this method.

MEDIAN. Median clustering (WPGMC). Squared Euclidean distances are commonly used with this method.

WARD. Ward’s method. Squared Euclidean distances are commonly used with this method.

Example

CLUSTER V1 V2 V3
 /METHOD=SINGLE COMPLETE WARDS.

• This example clusters cases based on their values for the variables V1, V2, and V3 and uses three clustering methods: single linkage, complete linkage, and Ward’s method.