Graphical methods for evaluating the fit of Johnson's hierarchical clustering schemes are presented together with an example. These evaluation methods examine the extent to which the clustering algorithm can minimize the overlap of the distributions of intracluster and intercluster distances. (Author)

Considers classifications produced by application of single linkage, complete linkage, group average, and word clustering methods to Keen and Cranfield document test collections, and studies structure of hierarchies produced, extent to which methods distort input similarity matrices during classification generation, and retrieval effectiveness…