How do you assess cluster stability?
hardAnswer
- (1) Bootstrap: resample data, re-cluster, measure Jaccard overlap between cluster memberships.
- (2) Random-init variability: many k-means restarts, measure ARI between runs.
- (3) Perturbation: add small noise, check whether cluster boundaries shift.
- Stable clusters survive resampling / perturbation.
- Standard sanity check before shipping a customer segmentation.
Check yourself — multiple choice
- Never check
- Bootstrap → Jaccard overlap; init variability → ARI between runs; noise perturbation → boundary stability — sanity-check before shipping segmentations
- Only silhouette
- Random
Cluster stability: bootstrap Jaccard / init ARI / noise perturbation.
#clustering#evaluation
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