Cluster Analysis

Dr. Anthony Babinec

Aim of Course:

This course will teach you how to use various cluster analysis methods to identify possible clusters in multivariate data. In marketing applications, clusters of customer records are called market segments (and the process is called market segmentation). Methods discussed include:

• hierarchical clustering (in which smaller clusters are nested inside larger clusters);
• k-means clustering;
• two-step clustering;
• normal mixture models for continuous variables.

Who Should Take This Course:

• Marketing analysts who need to cluster customer data as part of a market segmentation strategy;
• Computational biologists (e.g. for taxonomy);
• Environmental scientists (e.g. for habitat studies);
• IT specialists (e.g. in modeling web traffic patterns);
• Military and national security analysts (e.g. in automated analysis of intercepted communications).

For those enrolled in a Program of Advanced Statistical Studies, this is a required or elective course in the following Programs:

• Statistics in Business & Marketing - elective
• Data Mining - elective

Course Program:

The course is structured as follows

The Instructor:

Dr. Anthony Babinec is President of AB Analytics. For over two decades, Tony Babinec has specialized in the application of statistical and data mining methods to the solution of business problems. Tony has multiple degrees from the University of Chicago, where he studied Advanced Statistics and Survey Research. Before forming AB Analytics, Babinec was Director of Advanced Products Marketing at SPSS; he worked on the marketing of Clementine and introduced CHAID, neural nets and other advanced technologies to SPSS users. He has presented at the AMA's Applied Research Methods Conference and Advanced Research Techniques Forum, the Sawtooth Software Conference, Statistical Innovation's Statistical Modeling Week, and numerous professional meetings. He is on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association, where he has held various offices including President. He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing.

Organization of the Course:

The course takes place over the internet, at statistics.com. During each course week, you participate at times of your own choosing - there are no set times when you must be online. Course participants will be given access to a private discussion board. In class discussions led by the instructor, you can post questions, seek clarification, and interact with your fellow students and the instructor. The course is scheduled to take place over 4 weeks, and typically requires 15 hours per week. At the beginning of each week, you receive the relevant material, in addition to answers to exercises from the previous session. During the week, you are expected to go over the course materials and work through exercises. Discussion among participants is encouraged. The instructor will provide answers and comments.

Certificates and Grades:

You may be interested only in learning the material presented, and not be concerned with grades or certificates. Or you may be enrolled in a statistics.com Program in Advanced Statistical Studies that requires demonstration of proficiency in the subject, in which case your work will be assessed for purposes of issuing a grade. Or you may require only a "Certificate of Course Completion," along with professional development credit in the form of Continuing Education Units (CEU's). As you begin the class, you will be asked to specify your category.

Credit:

This course offers continuing education units (CEU's). For those successfully completing the course (generally this means marks of 50% or better on the homework), 5.0 CEU's and a certificate will be issued by statistics.com, upon request.

Dates:

Nov. 6 - Dec. 4, 2009
Nov. 5 - Dec. 3, 2010
Click here to be notified of future course offerings.

Participants gain access to the online materials on the first day of the course, and typically spend about 15 hours per week (at their convenience). You retain full access to course materials, including discussion board, for two weeks after the course closing date.

Level:

Intermediate

Prerequisite:

The equivalent of Introduction to Statistics 1: Inference for a Single Variable, and Introduction to Statistics 2: Working with Bivariate Data (and, if necessary before these courses, Introduction to Statistics for Beginners or Survey of Statistics for Beginners). Some familiarity with multivariate data is also helpful, such as that provided in Introduction to Data Mining (though the methods discussed in that course are not required for this course). For additional information about course prerequisites, click here.

Course Text:

The required text is Cluster Analysis (4th edition, Oxford University Press) by Everitt, Landau, Leese. You can order the text from amazon by clicking here.

Software:

Some illustrations will be provided using XLMiner (an Excel add-in) and SPSS. Click Here for information on obtaining a free (or nominal cost) copy of XLMiner and SPSS.

Registration:

Register Online - $469
Register Online (academic) - $369 (you must be affiliated with a college, university or high school)

Add $50 service fee if you require a prior invoice, or if you need to submit a purchase order or voucher, pay by wire transfer or EFT, or refund and reprocess a prior payment. Please use this printed registration form, for these and other special orders.

Consider registering for this course together with two other Data Mining courses as part of our special 3 course package registration for tuition savings.

Note: Courses may fill up at any time and registrations are processed in the order in which they are received. Your registration will be confirmed for the first available course date, unless you specify otherwise.