ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of macro and micro levels of analysis in at least two dimensions: one is methodological; the other deals with levels of perception of induced abortion ranging from the individual woman, the aggregate group of low income urban families in Guayaquil, and the national government. The chapter deals with methodological approaches, and focuses on the data on individual women in a barrio of Guayaquil to aggregate data on the city. In fertility studies, some data, such as age, parity, retrospective breastfeeding and contraceptive histories can be obtained fairly easily by the survey method. Other data, such as number of sexual unions, present union, attitudes, use of contraceptives, induced abortion, frequency of intercourse, and other observed behavior patterns are often best studied or at least confirmed through ethnographic studies. On the topic of induced abortion, the proportions reporting induced abortions are similar for both methods.
