Re: Oh those units of analysis

Phil Graham (pw.graham who-is-at student.qut.edu.au)
Sat, 19 Sep 1998 16:14:57 +1000

>Either way, here is what bothers me about 'unit of analysis'. It seems ill
>fitting in an dynamic ecosocial description of human interaction across
>many scales of influence and time. One can carve out, or isolate a portion
>of the system, to enable analysis, fully knowing that to do so forms
>artificial boundaries.

My view on this, for what it's worth, is that social phenomena, physical
phenomena, and cognitive phenomena invoke different logics, each of which
is valid in its own realm: Domain-specific phenomena; domain-specific
logic. Of course, this is not to say that these logics do not interact, or
are mutually exclusive. It cannot not be so. As such, I think, rather than
'unit of analysis' as an approach to studying "things" or "processes" (each
of which involves relationships between both clasifications), 'phenomena
under investigation' might be a better way to grasp the "things",
"processes", and "relationships" that constitute the boundaries of our
understanding of a given phenomenon in which we're interested. Hence,
domain-specific phenomenologies are suggested (S'cuse the absence of agency).

Phil
Phil Graham
pw.graham who-is-at student.qut.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/8314/index.html