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The Ecological Fallacy: Some Fundamental Research Misconceptions Corrected

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2004

KEVIN J. CLANCY ,
PAUL D. BERGER  and
THOMAS L. MAGLIOZZI
KEVIN J. CLANCY
Affiliation:
Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Researchkclancy@copernicusmarketing.com
PAUL D. BERGER
Affiliation:
Boston University School of Managementpdberger@bu.edu
THOMAS L. MAGLIOZZI
Affiliation:
Boston University School of ManagementTrainboytommy1@aol.com
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Abstract

The ecological fallacy, the drawing of inferences about individuals based on aggregate level data, was discovered over 50 years ago but is still present in a surprising number of commonly employed marketing and advertising research tools. In this article, we examine three specific manifestations of the ecological fallacy—gap/grid analysis, leverage analysis, and the misuse of indexes from syndicated research. Our analysis will demonstrate that the approaches represent parallel paths to an analysis procedure that results in correct conclusions only by accident.We acknowledge Kathryn Britney for contributions to an earlier draft of this article.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Advertising Research , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , December 2003 , pp. 370 - 380
Copyright
© Copyright © 1960-2003, The ARF

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References

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