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ment such as Inkatha or the Nazi movement in Germany during the periodbetween the end of World War I and that of World War II.Different types of longitudinal studies like cohort studies or panel studies areusually included in this category. Cohort studies refer to research in which aparticular sub-population (for example, people born between 1940 and 1949) isstudied with a view to assessing the changes which occur over time. Althoughthe sample in each study may differ, it will consistently include subjects drawnfrom the sub-population which was originally defined. Panel studies are similarto cohort studies with the exception that each follow-up study would includethe same individuals in the sample. An example of this type of study would beif the political attitudes of a group of constituents were to be investigatedmonth by month for the duration of an election campaign.* Synchronic/cross-sectional studies are those in which a given phenomenon isstudied at a specific point in time. For example, studies of the attitudes ofpeople or the value systems of a particular sample at a certain time.This distinction between synchronic and diachronic research would apply tomost of the cells in the preceding table. It merely serves to illustrate howcomplex the research domain of the social sciences is, and to show the varietyof potential research topics.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaTHREATS TO VALIDITYThe two most important threats to the validity of a study regarding the unit ofanalysis are to be found in (i) the so-called ecological fallacy and in (ii)reductionistic tendencies.(i) The ecological fallacy involves, for example, arriving at conclusionsabout groups when the subjects of the study are individuals. The inverse wouldalso apply where conclusions are reached about individuals when theparticipants in the study are groups. The following is an example of the latterfallacy: Assume that we are conducting a post hoc analysis of election results.Further assume that our interest is in the amount of support received by theonly female candidate in the local city council elections. We have data at ourdisposal on the voting patterns in the different wards and also census data onthe demographic composition of the wards. According to our analysis we findthat there is a greater degree of support for the female candidate in wards witha larger proportion of younger voters. One would be inclined to conclude thatyounger people are more likely to vote for a female candidate. In doing this wewould be in danger of committing the ecological fallacy. It might just as wellhave been the older voters in the wards with greater proportions of youngervoters who voted for the female candidate. The problem which arose is relatedto the fact that we used wards as our unit of analysis to arrive at conclusionsabout the behaviour of individual voters.41