Mutual information, phi-squared and model-based co-clustering for contingency tables

Many of the datasets encountered in statistics are two-dimensional in nature and can be represented by a matrix. Classical clustering procedures seek to construct separately an optimal partition of rows or, sometimes, of columns. In contrast, co-clustering methods cluster the rows and the columns simultaneously and organize the data into homogeneous blocks (after suitable permutations). Methods of this kind have practical importance in a wide variety of applications such as document clustering, where data are typically organized in two-way contingency tables. Our goal is to offer coherent frameworks for understanding some existing criteria and algorithms for co-clustering contingency tables, and to propose new ones. We look at two different frameworks for the problem of co-clustering. The first involves minimizing an objective function based on measures of association and in particular on phi-squared and mutual information. The second uses a model-based co-clustering approach, and we consider two models: the block model and the latent block model. We establish connections between different approaches, criteria and algorithms, and we highlight a number of implicit assumptions in some commonly used algorithms. Our contribution is illustrated by numerical experiments on simulated and real-case datasets that show the relevance of the presented methods in the document clustering field.