K-medoids:
- Cluster Shape:
- Can handle clusters of arbitrary shapes.
- Outlier Handling:
- Less sensitive to outliers due to medoid calculation.
- Density Sensitivity:
- Not explicitly density-sensitive.
- Parameter Dependency:
- Sensitive to the number of clusters (K) and initial medoids.
- Use Cases:
- Effective for datasets with irregularly shaped clusters.
- Computational Efficiency:
- Can be more computationally expensive, especially for large datasets.
DBSCAN:
- Cluster Shape:
- Can find clusters of arbitrary shapes.
- Outlier Handling:
- Robust to outliers due to density-based approach.
- Density Sensitivity:
- Sensitive to varying cluster densities.
- Parameter Dependency:
- Less dependent on specifying the number of clusters.
- Use Cases:
- Effective for datasets with irregularly shaped clusters and varying densities.
- Computational Efficiency:
- Can be more computationally expensive, especially for large datasets.
Based on the features of your data and the particular objectives of your clustering operation, decide between K-medoids and DBSCAN. DBSCAN is useful for density-sensitive clustering, but K-medoids might be favored due to their resistance to outliers.