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Complex Networks IV pp 121–132Cite as

Evaluating the Stability of Communities Found by Clustering Algorithms

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Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 476))

Abstract

Since clustering algorithms identify communities even in networks that are not believed to exhibit clustering behavior, we are interested in evaluating the significance of the communities returned by these algorithms. As a proxy for significance, prior work has investigated stability: by how much do the clusters change when the network is perturbed? We describe a cheap and simple method for evaluating stability and test it on a variety of real-world and synthetic graphs. Rather than evaluating our method on a single clustering algorithm, we give results using three popular clustering algorithms and measuring the distance between computed clusterings via three different metrics. We consider the results in the context of known strengths and weaknesses of the three clustering algorithms and also compare our method against that of measuring modularity. Finally we give evidence that our method provides more information than does the modularity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Department, Pomona College, 185 E. Sixth St, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA

    Tzu-Yi Chen & Evan Fields

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  1. Tzu-Yi Chen
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  2. Evan Fields
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Correspondence to Tzu-Yi Chen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. 20 Queensberry st. # 4, Boston, 02215, Massachusetts, USA

    Gourab Ghoshal

  2. Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, 60208, Illinois, USA

    Julia Poncela-Casasnovas

  3. , Institut fuer Informatik, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 24/26, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Robert Tolksdorf

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Chen, TY., Fields, E. (2013). Evaluating the Stability of Communities Found by Clustering Algorithms. In: Ghoshal, G., Poncela-Casasnovas, J., Tolksdorf, R. (eds) Complex Networks IV. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 476. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36844-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36844-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-36843-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36844-8

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