ABSTRACT
The methods of analysis which social scientists use have major implications for the conclusions that they reach. Services are provided by local authorities and health authorities in terms of local administrative boundaries, for a particular area or subdivision of an area. The area is the unit of service provision, those administering the service will tend to see the area as a whole and perhaps possessing a particular character, and data about the activities of the local or health authority will often be available only in aggregate form for the area. The ecological correlation itself is not without significance, and it is possible that similar historical circumstances and economic circumstances caused certain American states to import and retain a large black population, and to neglect their school systems, leading to higher illiteracy. The relationship between ecological and individual inferences is not wholly arbitrary or unpredictable.
