Why unit of analysis is an integral part of research design?

Answer 1

The unit of analysis is an important issue to be considered to find the right answers to the research questions posed. The unit of analysis also determines the sample size. For example, if one is interested in researching the factors that influence the stock market in three different European countries, it is the behavior of stock markets in those three countries that are of central interest to the study, and not the individual Stock Market within each country. At the time of data analysis, the data gathered from each of the stock markets within each country will somehow have to be meaningfully aggregated, and only those three data points, which will form the three samples, have to be taken into consideration. Thus, the unit of analysis is a function of the research question posed, and is an integral part of the research design. As will be seen later, research design decisions relating to sampling also depend on the unit of analysis. Let us say a researcher decides to have a sample size of 30 for a study. Sampling 30 individuals in an organization when the unit of analysis is individuals, is not as problematic as sampling 30 organizations when the unit of analysis is organizations, or sampling 30 countries when the unit of analysis is countries. Thus, the unit of analysis influences other decisions such as the sampling design, the sample size, data collection methods, etc.