Exploring Network Behavior Using Cluster Analysis

Innovation occurs in network environments. Identifying the important players in the innovative process, namely “the innovators”, is key to understanding the process of innovation. Doing this requires flexible analysis tools tailored to work well with complex datasets generated within such environments. One such tool, cluster analysis, organizes a large data set into discrete groups based on patterns of similarity. It can be used to discover data patterns in networks without requiring strong ex ante assumptions about the properties of either the data generating process or the environment. This paper reviews key procedures and algorithms related to cluster analysis. Further, it demonstrates how to choose among these methods to identify the characteristics of players in a network experiment where innovation emerges endogenously. JEL classification: C46, C81