Finding Groups in Ordinal Data: An Examination of Some Clustering Procedures

Walesiak, Marek; Dudek, Andrzej

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-10745-0_19

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…These results are well-known and have been presented by various authors, for example [36]. The interval and ratio scales are high [37]. In the present study, the authors applied metric data (interval, ratio).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 66%

Struggling with COVID-19—A Framework for Assessing Health System Performance

Markowicz

Rudawska

2021

Sustainability

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Currently, no guidelines exist on how to evaluate the performance of health systems fighting the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Therefore, this study seeks (1) to develop a conceptual framework that would be helpful in the given context, and (2) to test the feasibility of the proposed approach. The framework is conceptualized based on investigating critical dimensions and indicators for the successful design of a method for evaluating the performance of health systems. Subsequently, the taxonomic measure of development is used and a correlational analysis made in order to run a pilot test of the proposed concept. The finalized conceptual framework has five input dimensions (demographical burden, epidemiological burden, health-related quality of life, financial resources, and access) described by 18 indicators, and two output domains (outcomes, productivity) described by six indicators to monitor system performance under the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilot-test conducted in European Union countries and the United States proved the model to be useful and feasible. The proposed framework can be used to assess the performance of health systems fighting novel pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, worldwide. Our methodological approach can be used as a benchmark for international agencies such as the World Health Organization in developing their own frameworks. The paper presents the first research exploring the evaluation of a health system during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has the potential to help monitor a health system’s performance during the pandemic by accounting for specific country-related circumstances. In a broader sense, it can contribute to boosting health market competitiveness in terms of quality.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 66%

Struggling with COVID-19—A Framework for Assessing Health System Performance

Markowicz

Rudawska

2021

Sustainability

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“…This allows researchers to choose the optimal algorithm and number of clusters with a majority rule based on a battery of internal validity and stability measures (for a full description, see [ 6 ]). We tested average and ward linkage for the hierarchical clustering due to previous simulation study from Walesiak and Dudek [ 54 ] reporting them as the best linkages for ordinal data. The average linkage considers the distance between two clusters as the average distance between each point in one cluster to every point in the other cluster, whereas ward linkage is a method that minimizes the error sum of squares between the clusters over all the variables.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[ 10 , 12 ] Trained clinicians assessed the functioning level of each participant and interrater reliability tests were performed regularly to calibrate the Global Functioning scales; GF-Social [Intraclass Correlation (ICC) = 0.945 and GF-Role (ICC = 0.924)] across study sites [ 29 ]. We compared the differences in social and role functioning scores between two clusters with the Mann–Whitney- U test [ 32 ] or with the Welch’s two-sample t -test [ 54 ] after checking for normal distribution with the Shapiro–Wilk test [ 48 ]. 3b) Association of FTD-defined subgroups and neurocognitive performance …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The clinical relevance of formal thought disorder in the early stages of psychosis: results from the PRONIA study

Oeztuerk

Pigoni

Wenzel

et al. 2021

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

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Background Formal thought disorder (FTD) has been associated with more severe illness courses and functional deficits in patients with psychotic disorders. However, it remains unclear whether the presence of FTD characterises a specific subgroup of patients showing more prominent illness severity, neurocognitive and functional impairments. This study aimed to identify stable and generalizable FTD-subgroups of patients with recent-onset psychosis (ROP) by applying a comprehensive data-driven clustering approach and to test the validity of these subgroups by assessing associations between this FTD-related stratification, social and occupational functioning, and neurocognition. Methods 279 patients with ROP were recruited as part of the multi-site European PRONIA study (Personalised Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management; www.pronia.eu). Five FTD-related symptoms (conceptual disorganization, poverty of content of speech, difficulty in abstract thinking, increased latency of response and poverty of speech) were assessed with Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Results The results with two patient subgroups showing different levels of FTD were the most stable and generalizable clustering solution (predicted clustering strength value = 0.86). FTD-High subgroup had lower scores in social (pfdr < 0.001) and role (pfdr < 0.001) functioning, as well as worse neurocognitive performance in semantic (pfdr < 0.001) and phonological verbal fluency (pfdr < 0.001), short-term verbal memory (pfdr = 0.002) and abstract thinking (pfdr = 0.010), in comparison to FTD-Low group. Conclusions Clustering techniques allowed us to identify patients with more pronounced FTD showing more severe deficits in functioning and neurocognition, thus suggesting that FTD may be a relevant marker of illness severity in the early psychosis pathway.

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“…That means for all requests there is the information if no preference [0], preference [1] or strong preference [2] for each according category (residential roads, main roads, no main roads without infrastructure, avoid cobblestones, green pathways) is stated. Dissimilarities (c): The asymmetric Manhattan method as proposed by [35] is used to calculate a distance matrix for the specific case of ordinal data. In order to do so, the relative distance between every pair of observations in the dataset is calculated and organized in the distance matrix.…”

Section: Sample (A)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing cyclists’ routing preferences by analyzing extensive user setting data from a bike-routing engine

Hardinghaus

Nieland

2021

Eur. Transp. Res. Rev.

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Introduction Many municipalities aim to support the uptake of cycling as an environmentally friendly and healthy mode of transport. It is therefore crucial to meet the demand of cyclists when adapting road infrastructure. Previous studies researching cyclists’ route choice behavior deliver valuable insights but are constrained by laboratory conditions, limitations in the number of observations, or the observation period or relay on specific use cases. Methods The present study analyzes a dataset of over 450,000 observations of cyclists’ routing settings for the navigation of individual trips in Berlin, Germany. It therefore analyzes query data recorded in the bike-routing engine BBBike and clusters the many different user settings with regard to preferred route characteristics. Results and Conclusion Results condense the large number of routing settings into characteristic preference clusters. Compared with earlier findings, the big data approach highlights the significance of short routes, side streets and the importance of high-quality surfaces for routing choices, while cycling on dedicated facilities seems a little less important. Consequentially, providing separated cycle facilities along main roads – often the main focal point of cycle plans – should be put into the context of an integrated strategy which fulfills distinct preferences to achieve greater success. It is therefore particularly important to provide a cycle network in calm residential streets as well as catering for short, direct cycle routes.

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Finding Groups in Ordinal Data: An Examination of Some Clustering Procedures

Cited by 16 publications

References 14 publications

Struggling with COVID-19—A Framework for Assessing Health System Performance

Struggling with COVID-19—A Framework for Assessing Health System Performance

The clinical relevance of formal thought disorder in the early stages of psychosis: results from the PRONIA study

Assessing cyclists’ routing preferences by analyzing extensive user setting data from a bike-routing engine

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