The term level of analysis points to the location, size, or scale of a research target. "Level of analysis" is distinct from the term "unit of analysis" or "unit of observation", in that the former refers to a more or less integrated set of relationships while the latter refers to the distinct unit from which data have been or will be gathered. Together, the unit of observation and the level of analysis help define the population of a research enterprise.

Overview[link]

The term level of analysis points to the location, size, or scale of a research target.^[1] An analogous term, used in the social sciences, is a "social unit". For example, in the area of International relations, in Man, State and War, Kenneth N. Waltz creates a tripartite analysis with three different levels of analysis: the man (individual), the state (a group), and war (the social system in which groups interact)^[2]. "Level of analysis" is distinct from the term "unit of analysis", "unit of observation", or "unit of measurement" in that the former refers to a more or less integrated set of relationships while the latter refer to the distinct unit from which data have been or will be gathered. Together, the unit of observation and the level of analysis define the population of a research enterprise.^[3]

Levels (in ascending order)[link]

Although levels of analysis are not necessarily mutually exclusive, there are three general levels into which research may fall: micro-level, meso-level or middle-range, and macro-level.

This section requires expansion with: additional examples and references for each sub-level.

Micro-level[link]

The smallest unit of analysis in the social sciences is an individual in their social setting. At the micro-level, also referred to as the local level, the research population typically is an individual in their social setting or a small group of individuals in a particular social context. Examples of micro-level units of analysis include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Alien, stateless person, asylum seeker, refugee
• Person
• Citizen
• Partnership, marriage
• Families
• Household
• Neighborhood

Meso-level[link]

In general, a meso-level analysis indicates a population size that falls between the micro- and macro-levels, such as a community or an organization. However, meso-level may also refer to analyses that are specifically designed to reveal connections between micro- and macro-levels. Sometimes referred to as mid-range, especially in sociology. Examples of meso-level units of analysis include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Clan
• Tribe
• Community
• Village, town, city
• Formal organization
• State

Macro-level[link]

Macro-level analyses generally trace the outcomes of interactions, such as economic or other resource transfer interactions over a large population. Also referred to as the global level. Examples of macro-level units of analysis include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Nation
• Society
• Civilization
• International

See also[link]

• Statistical unit
• Social groups

Additional Reading[link]

• Babbie, Earl (2004). The Practice of Social Research (10th ed.), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Thomson Learning Inc. ISBN 0-534-62029-9.
• Jepperson, Ronald and John W. Meyer (2011). "Multiple Levels of Analysis and the Limitations of Methodological Individualisms." Sociological Theory, 29(1): 54–73.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rourke, John T . (2005). "Levels of analysis", from International Politics on the World Stage, (10th ed.)
• Megas, Achilleas (2008). "The Level Analysis Meta-theoretical Problem: International Studies Assessment." Third International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences.
• Core-Biological level of analysis.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2011)

Seth Godin
Born	(1960-07-10) July 10, 1960 (age 51)
Alma mater	Tufts University Stanford University
Occupation	author, marketing guru
Website
sethgodin.com

Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.

Background[link]

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Seth Godin graduated from Tufts University in 1979 with a degree in computer science and philosophy. Godin earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software. For a time Godin commuted every week between California and Boston both to do his new job and to complete his MBA..

After leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, Godin used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in New York City.^[1] It was in the same offices that Godin met Mark Hurst and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies.^{[citation needed]} It was with Yoyodyne that Godin came up with the concept of permission marketing.^{[citation needed]} For a period of time, Godin served as a columnist for Fast Company^{[citation needed]}

Godin and his wife Helene now live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York with their two sons.

Viewpoints[link]

Godin believes that the end of the "TV-Industrial complex" means that marketers no longer have the power to command the attention of anyone they choose, whenever they choose. Second, in a marketplace in which consumers have more power, he thinks marketers must show more respect; this means no spam, no deceit and a bias for keeping promises. Finally, Godin asserts that the only way to spread the word about an idea is for that idea to earn the buzz by being remarkable. Godin refers to those who spread these ideas as "Sneezers", and to the spreading idea as an "IdeaVirus." He calls a remarkable product or service a purple cow.

Advertisements on television and radio are classified as 'interruption marketing' which interrupt the customer while they are doing something of their preference. Godin introduced the concept of "permission marketing" where the business provides something "anticipated, personal, and relevant".

Business ventures[link]

Yoyodyne[link]

In 1995, Godin launched Yoyodyne which used contests, online games, and scavenger hunts to market companies to participating users. In August, 1996, venture-capital firm Flatiron Partners invested $4 million in Yoyodyne in return for a 20% stake.^[2] The site gained significant traction, with over one million viewers visiting the site, and companies like America Online, American Express, H&R Block, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sony Music, Sprint, and Volvo using its services.^[3]

At Yoyodyne, Godin developed the principle of permission marketing and authored Permission Marketing: Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers.

In 1998, Godin sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for $30 million^[4] and became Yahoo's vice president of direct marketing, a position he held until 2000.^[5]

Squidoo[link]

In March 2006, Godin launched Squidoo, a community website allowing users to create pages (called "lenses") for subjects of interest.^[6] The site donates 5% of the profits to charity, and 50% to the lensmasters. Godin and Squidoo have been profiled on CNN and the Washington Post.^[7][8] The site was given top prize in SXSW's community/wiki category.^[9] As of July 2008, Squidoo was one of the 500 most visited sites in the world.^[10]

Other projects[link]

ChangeThis[link]

Godin developed the idea for ChangeThis, a website aimed at spreading ideas through PDF files.^[11] In the summer of 2004, Godin hired five interns—Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu and Michelle Sriwongtong—to build and develop the website.^[12] The website went live on August 14, 2004.^[13] Tom Peters, Chris Anderson, and Guy Kawasaki all had manifestos featured on ChangeThis.^[14] In July 2005, ChangeThis was turned over to 800-CEO-READ, the leading distributor of business literature in the United States.^[15][16]

Six month alternative MBA program[link]

In December 2008, Godin announced in a blog post that he would be offering a six month alternative MBA program at his office in Hastings on Hudson, NY.^[17] 48,000 people looked at the post and 340 applied. He invited 27 applicants to his office for a group interview. They spent two hours interviewing one another. After co-mingling, they and Godin together wrote down the names of their favorite candidates. Three weeks later the chosen 9 showed up at Godin's office.^[18] This group graduated in July 2009.^[19]

The Domino Project[link]

In December 2010, Godin announced on his blog that he would be working directly with Amazon on a venture called The Domino Project.^[20]

Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for)[link]

In February 2012, Godin released a 30,000 word manifesto on Squidoo in response to the question "What do you think we ought to do about education?". This manifesto is "totally free to read, share, translate, print and, most of all, use to start an essential conversation". ^[21]

Books[link]

Godin is the author of 11 books; his Free Prize Inside was a Forbes Business Book of the Year in 2004,^[22] in its first two years of release, Purple Cow sold over 150,000 copies in more than 23 printings.^[23] The Dip was a Business Week and New York Times bestseller.^[24][25] And Godin has called his free ebook Unleashing the Ideavirus the most "popular ebook ever written".^[26] In the early 1990s he created a ten book series for children titled Worlds of Power, which was written by various writers. In each the plot of a single video game was told in a novelized form.^[27]

Beginning with Permission Marketing, Godin uses the concepts discussed in the books to promote the book. For Permission Marketing, Godin gave 1/3 of the book away for free to anyone who sent an e-mail. For Unleashing the Ideavirus, Godin released the entire eBook on the Internet for free, which led to eventual publishing deals in 41 countries and a public speaking career. For Purple Cow, Godin created a milk carton container for the book which generated attention from work colleagues. For Tribes, Godin launched an exclusive online community for the first 3000 people who pre-ordered the book. For Linchpin, Godin gave the book away for three weeks before its release for free to anyone willing to give $30 to the Acumen Fund for the $20 book, and raised $100,000 for the Acumen Fund.

Bibliography[link]

• Godin, Seth (1993). The Smiley Dictionary. Berkeley: Peachpit Press. ISBN 1-56609-008-3. 
• Godin, Seth (1995). eMarketing: Reaping Profits on the Information Highway. New York: Berkley Pub. Group. ISBN 0-399-51904-1. 
• Godin, Seth (1999). Permission marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85636-0. 
• Godin, Seth (2001). Unleashing the Ideavirus. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8717-6.  Book online - Detailing the idea of Viral marketing
• Godin, Seth (2002). The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better. New York: Free Press. pp. 112. ISBN 0-7432-2790-5. 
• Godin, Seth (2002). Survival is not enough: zooming, evolution, and the future of your company. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2571-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2003). Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. Portfolio. pp. 224. ISBN 1-59184-021-X. 
• Godin, Seth (2004). Free Prize Inside!: The Next Big Marketing Idea. Penguin USA Portfolio. pp. 256. ISBN 1-59184-041-4. 
• Godin, Seth (2005). All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-100-3. 
• Godin, Seth; the Group of 33 (2005). The Big Moo: Stop Trying to be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-103-8. 
• Godin, Seth (2006). Small Is the New Big: and 193 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-126-7. 
• Godin, Seth (2007). The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-166-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2008). Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-174-7. 
• Godin, Seth (2008). Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Portfolio Hardcover. p. 160. ISBN 1-59184-233-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2010). Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?. Portfolio Hardcover. p. 256. ISBN 1-59184-316-2. 
• Godin, Seth (2011). Poke the Box. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-936719-00-2. 
• Godin, Seth (2011). We Are All Weird. The Domino Project. ISBN 1-936719-22-3. 

Blog[link]

Godin's Seth's Blog^[28] is ranked in the AdAge Power 150 as the #1 marketing blog out of 976 tracked. ^[29]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Seth Godin on TED
• Seth Godin at the Internet Movie Database
• Subvert Magazine interview
• Smart People Podcast - interview (2011)
• The Marketplace of Ideas - interview (2010)

Patrick Dixon
Born	1957 London
Occupation	Futurist
Spouse	Sheila
Children	Four

Dr Patrick Dixon is an author and business consultant, often described as a futurist. In 2005 he was ranked as one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive according to the Thinkers 50 (a private survey printed in The Times).^[1][2] He is Chairman of the trends forecasting company Global Change Ltd,^[3] founder of the international AIDS agency ACET, and Chairman of the ACET International Alliance.

Dixon was included in the Independent on Sunday's 2010 "Happy List", with reference to ACET and his other work tackling the stigma of AIDS.^[4]

Medical career[link]

Patrick Dixon studied Medical Sciences at King's College, Cambridge and continued medical training at Charing Cross Hospital, London.^[3] In 1978, while a medical student, he founded the IT startup Medicom, selling medical software solutions in the UK and the Middle East, based on early personal computers. After qualifying as a physician he cared for people dying of cancer at St Joseph's Hospice and then as part of the Community Care Team based at University College Hospital, London, while also continuing IT consulting part-time.

In 1988^[3] he launched the AIDS charity ACET, following publication of his first book The Truth about AIDS, which warned of an unfolding catastrophe that has since hit many nations in sub-Saharan Africa. ACET grew rapidly, providing home care services across London and other parts of the UK, as well as a national sex education programme in schools, reaching more than 450,000 students.

Dixon no longer practices as a physician, but remains actively involved as Chairman of the ACET International Alliance. This is now a network of independent national AIDS care and prevention programmes, sharing the same name and values, active in 23 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.^[5]

Trends analysis, business consulting and writing[link]

Patrick Dixon now advises large corporations in many different industries on trends, strategy, risk management and opportunities for innovation, giving keynotes to thousands of business leaders at corporate events each year.^[6]

Since the 1990s Dixon has written 15 books covering a wide range of issues and macro-trends including social media, multichannel marketing, consumer shifts, demographics, rise of emerging economies, health care, biotechnology, social issues, sustainability, politics and business ethics.

Futurewise, first published in 1998, uses the word FUTURE as a mnemonic standing for "Six Faces of the Future" which will impact every large business: Fast, Urban, Tribal, Universal, Radical and Ethical.^[3] Dixon is optimistic about the capacity of human innovation to solve complex challenges:

This millennium will witness the greatest challenges to human survival that we have ever seen, and many of them will face us in the early years of the first century. It will also provide us with science and technology beyond our greatest imaginings, and the greatest shift in values for over 50 years. Futurewise, page xi

Building a Better Business, published in 2005, describes a new approach to leadership, management, marketing, teams, brands, customer relations, innovation, strategy, corporate governance and values. The book applies lessons from volunteering and non-profit organisations in motivating and inspiring large numbers of people to achieve great things. In it, Dixon argues that all successful leadership derives from an appeal to a common desire for a better future—for customers, workers, shareholders and communities. He attacks the "dangerous" obsession with shareholder value in many global corporations:

"Our society has come to see that a strategy to build shareholder value without a clear mission based on robust ethical values, is a complete nonsense. In fact it has proved one of the fastest ways of destroying an entire global business."

Sustainagility, published in 2010 and co-authored by Johan Gorecki, describes green technology and innovations across a wide range of industries, which Dixon believes will help to transform and protect the world.

Personal life[link]

Dr Dixon is married to Sheila, with four grown up children including the pop artist Paul Dixon (David's Lyre), and lives in London where the family is active in local church and community life.

Works[link]

Patrick Dixon publishes video messages on his web TV site. He claims over 10 million viewers,^[7] and YouTube shows over 3 million video views on his channel there.^[8]

Books[link]

The Thinkers 50 noted Dixon's relaxed attitude to his own intellectual capital, in that he makes much of it available without charge.^[3] Books marked * are published free online at the Global Change books page.

• The Truth about AIDS - Kingsway / ACET Int. All. 1987, 1989, 1994, new edition 2004 *
• AIDS and Young People - Kingsway 1989
• AIDS and You - Kingsway / ACET Int. All. 1990, 2004 *
• The Genetic Revolution - Kingsway 1993, 1995 *
• The Rising Price of Love - Kingsway 1994 *
• Signs of Revival - Kingsway 1994, 1995
• Out of the Ghetto - Word 1995
• The Truth about Westminster - Kingsway 1995 *
• The Truth about Drugs - Hodder 1996 *
• Cyberchurch - Kingsway 1996
• Futurewise - Harper Collins 1998, 2001, Profile Books 2003, reprinted 2004, 2005, 4th edition 2007
• Island of Bolay - Harper Collins 2000 - thriller
• Building a Better Business - Profile Books 2005
• Sustainagility - Kogan Page 2010

Selected articles[link]

• Wake up to stronger tribes and a longer life - Financial Times
• Death of National Stock Exchanges
• Why market research doesn't work when predicting the future
• Lessons for corporates from non-profits
• Drug testing in the workplace
• The death of shareholder value
• The office can really get under your skin (injectable chips)
• Auditing trends
• Designer babies
• Future of human cloning

References[link]

1. ^ Thinkers 50 2005
2. ^ Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer, The Most Influential Management Gurus, The Times, November 2005
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Ciaran Parker, The Thinkers 50. Praeger Publishers, 2005. ISBN 0-275-99145-8
4. ^ The IoS Happy List 2010 - the 100, Independent on Sunday, 25 April 2010
5. ^ www.acet-international.org
6. ^ Patrick Dixon, speaker's profile at Leigh Bureau
7. ^ Patrick Dixon CV on Global Change website
8. ^ Dr Patrick Dixon - Futurist's channel on YouTube

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Patrick Dixon

• http://pdixon.blogspot.com - blog comment on recent events
• http://youtube.com/pjvdixon - over 200 short videos and full-length presentations by Dr Patrick Dixon on global trends
• www.nextwaveonline.com - A TV interview with Dr Patrick Dixon