Table 1.

The Four Primary Uses of Cluster Analysis.

Author (Year)	Purpose of Study	Results of Study	Primary Use of Cluster Analysis
Hillhouse and Adler (1997)	Identify effects of stress on nurses via analysis of patterns of nursing stressors, nursing burnout, affective symptoms, and physical symptoms	Three homogeneous stress effect subgroups were identified	Create classifications of homogeneous groups
Allred etal. (1994)	Understand the nursing practice environment via identification of factors that compose the environment; identification of the amount of complexity and predictability of the environment; identification of the amount of uncertainty in the environment; and understanding the relationship between the environment and these factors	Three unique nursing environments emerged. Post hoc analysis revealed that as the nursing environment increased in levels of complexity, change, and unpredictability, the uncertainty levels in nurses increased	Investigate conceptual schemes
Gilbertson-White, Miaskowski, Lee, Dodd, West, and Cooper (2007)	Cluster stability testing to test the hypothesis that distinct patient subgroups have a predilection toward sickness behaviors	A stable four-cluster solution was identified, which was identical to a previously conducted study by the same researchers, thus supporting the hypothesis that certain patient types have predispositions for higher levels of sickness behaviors	Hypothesis testing
Kuhn and Culhane (1998)	Identification of an expanded homelessness typologies	A more complex model of homelessness emerged, with a three-cluster solution as opposed to the four-cluster solution that had been popular in the literature before the publication of the study	Confirmatory Analysis