ABSTRACT
Classification is one of the most basic operations in scientific inquiry. It is particularly important in social science, where comprehensive theory is often lacking and the first step in the enquiry is usually to detect some sort of pattern in the data. Methods of classification have long been used in biology, where the grouping of individuals according to species and genus has been the foundation of much subsequent work. Although some early work in cluster analysis was done by biologists seeking to classify plants, much of the stimulus for items developing the subject has come from problems in the social sciences, broadly interpreted. The following highly selective list illustrates why we might be interested in finding clusters and what practical purposes they might serve.
