The Pathology of level of analysis in sample survey researches: A study on survey papers in selected Iranian management journals

In survey research, defining the unit of analysis and consequently the level of analysis has to be observed accurately. The unit of analysis reflects the level of analysis that can be Micro (individual level), Meso (group or organization level) and Macro (society level). Thus, choosing a wrong unit of analysis, affect both the input and output of research and leads to its invalidity. The aim of this study is pathology of level of analysis in survey researches that were published in Iranian scientific journals in 92-93 period. The sample included nine management journals that were chosen on a purposive sampling. We selected eighty survey articles in which the unit of analysis was thought to be at Meso level that is higher than individual level. Content analysis and ratio comparison test were used for data analysis in several assimilate population. We also investigated the type and journal’s compliance/non-compliance. Based on the research results, we found that the overall percentage of non-compliance of selected journals is 47.5%, One of journals with 75% and another one with 0% had the highest and lowest non-compliance respectively.