A new statistical procedure, two-mode clustering analysis, was used to examine consensual beliefs about the features of situations typically occurring within the university milieu. Forty-eight students were asked to keep a written record of the situations they encountered over a 1-week period. The 30 most frequently mentioned situation labels were presented to an independent sample of subjects for rating on bipolar scales. A two-mode hierarchical clustering analysis of the situation-by-feature rating data yielded nine clusters showing how situations relate to each other, how situation-descriptive features relate to each other, and, most important, how situations and features relate to each other Additionally, an overlapping clustering solution was derived illuminating the fuzzy nature of situation categories. Implications of the present methodology for research on situation cognition are discussed.
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