A recent evaluation of a federal program to support community policing included

Question

A recent evaluation of a federal program to support community policing included sending questionnaires to a sample of about 1,200 police chiefs. Each questionnaire included a number of items asking about specific features of community policing and whether they were being used in the department. Almost all the police chiefs had someone else complete the questionnaire. What would be the unit of analysis in this survey? What problems might result from having an individual complete such a questionnaire?

Explanation / Answer

The unit of analysis is the major entity that is being analyzed in a study, and in this case being police chiefs. A problem with having other individuals complete the questionnaire is that any inferences drawn based on the analysis of data would pertain to a heterogeneous sample, rather than the police officers themselves. In other words, the results would be applicable to an unknown sample rather than the desired unit of analysis.

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