Unit of Analysis

Question one: The unit of analysis for the study

A unit of analysis refers to the main object that is used in the analysis in a study. The analysis to be done in the study determines, to a larger extent, the unit of analysis

The units of analysis for the study are organizations. The organizations form the fundamental and major entities that the analysis for the study is based on. By gathering the relevant data on the organizations, groupings can be done on the different levels of establishments such as the portion that consists of the black population, the foreign-born population and the poor. The organizations function as the unit of analysis since they help in determining the sizes, the number of organizational levels, and their composition which are important in establishing if the hypothesis of the research holds. This is evident as the study bases its analysis on organizations that offer essential and important regular services in the neighborhoods.

“Furthermore, for reasons of space and manageability, we limited the number of resources to the 10 we identified as most pressingly in need of empirical assessment. The resulting list follows: banks, childcare centers, convenience stores, grooming stores (barbershops, nail salons, and beauty salons), and restaurants. We selected the 10 establishments before running empirical tests.”

Question two: Two variables and a complete list of their attributes

Variables are characteristics in a study that is subject to change, and they can be revealed in different degrees within the study. The variables used may take different values at different times depending on the nature of the study. On the other hand, attributes refer to the value or values that are attached to a variable.

Two types of variables are used in the study, that is, dependent variables and the independent variable. The dependent variables consist of the total counts of the organizations based on their types, for instance, banks, and restaurants as determined by the zip codes. These dependent variables are pharmacies, hardware stores, saving banks, laundries, childcare centers and restaurants. The independent variables in the study, on the other hand, are categorized into seven different categories. The categories are the proportion of the population that is composed of blacks, the proportion that is foreign born, the population density, the residential instability, central city location, and ethnic make-up.

Each of the independent variables is further categorized based on their attributes. For instance, the independent variable, population density, has the attributes residential and business zoned. This is because the people in the neighborhoods under study are either located in a residential area or an area that has a lot of commercial activities. For central city locations, the attributes are the places in the city, that is, inner city areas or the suburban areas of the city. The independent variable ethnic make-up has three attributes, Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic Asian.

“…(1) the proportion of all persons in the zip code who are poor, (2) proportion black, and (3) proportion foreign born. The poverty slope is estimated as a random effect. We also control for the following: (4) population density (logged), because some neighborhoods are primarily residential, while others are primarily business zoned; (5) residential instability, measured as the proportion of residents who were living in a different house than they had been in 1995; (6) central city location, because neighborhoods located in inner city areas may have more businesses than those in suburban sections of metropolitan areas (see Jackson 1985) 7 ; and (7) ethnic make-up, measured as proportions non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic Asian and Hispanic.”

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