Multiple-vs Non-or Single-Imputation Based Fuzzy Clustering for Incomplete Longitudinal Behavioral Intervention Data

Zhaoyang Zhang, Hua Fang

Abstract: Disentangling patients' behavioral variations is a critical step for better understanding an intervention's effects on individual outcomes. Missing data commonly exist in longitudinal behavioral intervention studies. Multiple imputation (MI) has been well studied for missing data analyses in the statistical field, however, has not yet been scrutinized for clustering or unsupervised learning, which are important techniques for explaining the heterogeneity of treatment effects. Built upon previous work on MI fuzzy clustering, this paper theoretically, empirically and numerically demonstrate how MI-based approach can reduce the uncertainty of clustering accuracy in comparison to non- and single-imputation based clustering approach. This paper advances our understanding of the utility and strength of multiple-imputation (MI) based fuzzy clustering approach to processing incomplete longitudinal behavioral intervention data.