Clustering services for services intergration: An empirical approach

This paper demonstrates an empirical method for clustering human services into more general categories. Nine clusters of services are obtained by factor analyzing 66 human services provided by the agencies in urban and rural counties in New York State. The structure of the particular nine clusters is then examined as a means of understanding how services “naturally” combine and cluster. The particular groupings suggest several characteristics about the organization of services that may assist in planning for service delivery. Regardless of whether nine clusters are the right number to describe service networks, the application of factor analysis to services data shows the usefulness of empirical clustering techniques in the study of service delivery networks and in the development of services integration plans.