1. Unit of Analysis/Study (Babbie, E. & Mouton, J. 2005
Unit of Analysis/Study (Babbie, E. & Mouton, J The Practice of Social Research. Cape Town:Oxford)
The what’ of your study – what object, phenomenon, entity, process or event
Unit of analysis typically also the unit of observation
Unit of analysis – things we examine to construct summary description of all such units
Must be clear to what your unit of analysis is
Common social science units of analysis:
Individuals
Groups
Organizations & Institutions
Social artifacts/cultural objects
Social actions
Interventions

2. Point of Focus within the Unit of Analysis (Babbie, E. & Mouton, J
Point of Focus within the Unit of Analysis (Babbie, E. & Mouton, J The Practice of Social Research. Cape Town:Oxford)
Characteristics
Individuals - Gender, age, height, marital status, deformities, region of origin, or hearing ability
Groups & Organisations – size, structure, location & aggregated descriptions of their members
Artifacts – size, colour, weight, characteristics of people associating with them – social events; where they occur what type of people involved, etc.
Orientations
Individuals – attitudes, beliefs, values, personality traits, prejudices, religious, political, intellectual, superstitious
Social Groups – purposes, policies, regulations/procedures
Actions
Observe directly or second-hand accounts of actions i.e. voting