Importance Of Level Of Analysis In Research

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A clear and appropriate research question, or set of interrelated questions, forms the foundation of good research. A researcher could have any one of three fundamental reasons for conducting research. 1) New knowledge creation: Basic research, main reason behind which is to expand knowledge, not invent or create something new. 2) Finding practical solutions to a problem: Applied research, which guides researchers to develop innovative techniques and technologies to find solutions to specific problems. 3) Strategic aspect: Foreseeing future problems and situations that could arise and to deal with them effectively. According to William M. K. Trochim (2006) The research design is the overall strategy that you choose to integrate the different…show more content…
Factors deciding the research design include, but are not limited to, access to data, time availability, level(s) of analysis, & certain controllable/uncontrollable variables. The aim of this assignment is to evaluate the importance of level of analysis in research. The term "level of analysis" is used to point to the location, size, or scale of a research target. (“Level of analysis”, n.d.). There are three general levels of analysis when it comes to research. 1) Micro Level: At this level, an individual is the principal focus. At the micro-level, or the local-level, the research population typically is an individual in their social setting or a small group of individuals in a particular social context. 2) Meso Level: Research at this level focuses on interaction of micro and macro phenomena. Ballard and Seibold (2003) argued that “meso research centers around the routines and activities that link various organizational units and as such, lends itself to a multilevel analysis” (p. 382). Teams and networks are the principal focus or unit of…show more content…
The first issue is of the ecological fallacy, popularized by William S. Robinson in 1950. Many theories are set at the individual level; however, it is easy to overlook the possible fallacy and study relations taken together because data are more widely available at that level. The second issue is of emergent property, which may appear when individual units operate in an environment and form complex behaviors as a collective. This idea is attributed to Emile Durkheim in The Rules of the Sociological Method (1895). Simply put, a component has a particular functionality, which is not recognizable as a sub-function of the global functionality. Under such circumstances, the research cannot be limited to individual level and must broadly include effects at a macro level. Both of the above-mentioned issues are important for survey researchers because the sampling unit sets a limit for the level of analysis a researcher wishes to use. Statistical properties aside, sampling unit gives the level at which detailed information is acquired. Therefore, these issues need to be considered while selecting level of analysis for research. Works

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